


Rogue Hound

by tootiredforthis



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, Supernatural, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Heartbreak, Sadness, Supernatural OC - Freeform, Violence, fourthwall breaks, good lord this was supposed to be a simple fic and look how it ended, hellhound oc, how to tag?, i apologise for what you are about to read, kinda funny?, original character is not a winchester, references and random pjo, this ended up more of a crackfic than anything and im sorry, tw for eating disorder, tw for suicidal thought
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-03-16 16:08:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 22,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13639677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tootiredforthis/pseuds/tootiredforthis
Summary: A Hellhound decides, "Fuck this, I'm gonna do something less destructive." In the process, she ends up destroying a lot more than otherwise.aka How to Break an OC, then somehow piece them together again.aka This Was Supposed To Be A Lot Simpler





	1. Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> We (my coauthor and I) began writing this fic two years ago, as we were going to create a series based on Marvel characters paired with original characters of ours. I understand now that that is total cringe, but back then we saw it as a good idea. If anyone wants the links to the original site where these were posted, let me know.  
> This started out as a simple Supernatural/MCU crossover, then we threw Harry Potter and PJO in the mix and decided, what the fuck, why not make this a complete and utter shitshow.  
> Basically, this is what would happen if we had been allowed to fuck around with the universe.

What is it with people throwing away their lives?! People will sell their soul for anything! I've dragged down people who wanted Money, Love, a bigger dick, the cure to some disease they have. Hello! It's all pointless! You can't take money with you to hell! Also, for all of those you made a deal to get rid of your own life threatening disease, you just chose hell ten years from now versus Heaven today! I think you made the perfectly wrong choice!

"Sic 'em, boy!" Lilith calls out to me. Why do I have to listen to this bitch? Oh, right. She's forcing me to work for her. Could the stupid demon at least bother to realize that I am a girl? Crowley, for goodness’ (evilness?) sake has the common courtesy to remember his hellhounds’ gender! Just because the rest of my kind are stupid doesn’t mean I’m stupid! I roll my eyes at her, as she pushes the salt out of my way. 

I attack the man whose number’s up. Bleh! Most Hounds love the taste of human, but me? Ever since I ate a burger this one man dropped, it’s been all I've craved. One question though...Who eats a burger when they know they are about to die? In his defence, it was in a burger shop. I pull the soul out from the man's chest and drag it down into hell. You would be surprised how much you can learn about someone by having their soul in your mouth. 

This one gave his soul to revive his brother, and only took a year in return. I kind of feel bad for the guy, he is a righteous man. Alastair is not going to be kind to him. He is also Michael's vessel? Nope. I do not envy him at all. Well, with all of this happening that means the apocalypse is just around the corner. I wonder how many people will make deals for safety during the chaos. To make sure their loved ones stay safe. 

The thought of how many more souls I will have to drag down makes me want to puke. I hate dragging people down. Why are you looking at me like that? So what, I’m a Hellhound that doesn’t like to see people hurt. If Vampires can hate killing people then so can I! If my life wasn’t being threatened I would just quit....Why can't I just quit? If Lilith finds me she will most likely kill me, but so what? So would a hunter eventually, if I keep dragging people down. They seem to make more deals than regular people do. One of them will get me eventually. That's it, I am going to quit! I've hated this job for awhile anyway.

I leave this man's soul on the rack. The guy is awake, "Don't say yes to Alastair! Give me time and I will send help!" I tell the man. I have no idea who he is, but I know if he says yes and starts torturing people down here, the apocalypse will start and the entire world will go to hell. (There has to be a better phrase for that.) I bound right back up to the surface. I am supposed to be stalking my next soul, they won't notice I am gone for another few days. 

So I decide to do something even more stupid.  
I pray.   
"Hey, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, God, and any angel that will listen! I know it is weird getting prayed to by a Hellhound but I need to warn you. I was just ordered to drag down a man, only after did I discover he is Michael's vessel. I think Lilith is planning on using him to break the first seal. If you don't believe me, whatever, just don't say I didn't warn you!"

So I wasn't exactly polite, it's not what I am known for. Fight me. 

From then on, I’m on the run. Bouncing from city to city, town to town, immediately running whenever I smelled even a hint of a demon, Hellhound, or demon deal. I know I most likely have Lilith on my trail, so it’s best not to tempt fate. After the first month I learned how to take a human form. Apparently, if I was born a human I would be a brunette with red eyes. That has scared quite a few people.

Some HellHounds, very few, are blessed with a gift the others don't have. Actually, it's just a couple generations of us, the first two. In the beginning we were made from the fires of hell, so we could control the fire. Then some of my idiotic siblings started bonding with ordinary mutts. The half breeds still came and worked for hell, they just lost the fire gift and any semblance of intelligence my siblings ever had. 

I'm from the second generation, pure breed, thank god....We really should find better phrases for these things. Anyway, I have the control over fire. I haven't used it in awhile though. How old am I this year? I lost count, hell kind of screws up your sense of time, I think it's in the six millions… I'll figure it out one day. All I know is that I'm old enough to have dragged King Uther Pendragon into hell. How do you think he got the first dragon sword? You need to get one to kill one but you need to kill one to get one!

I continue to travel. I became a hunter, and in my opinion a good one. Burning bones is really simple when you can control fire. Wendigos are also really simple, I just light them up. Most monsters out there are weak to silver, I'm one of the lucky ones with iron. I don't have to use iron very often, so I don't have to worry about the enemy using my own weapon against me.  
I am attracted to one town because the attacks are absolutely bizarre. As far as I could tell there was no pattern to the victims and they all died in different ways. All of them extremely poetic. Animal abuser gets attacked by some sort of animal. The town's local prankster is currently in a psych ward, claiming he was nearly killed by a clown. I am able to tell what it is the moment I get into town. Archangels have a very noticeable energy signature. 

I had planned on turning right around. If an archangel wants to kill people then let 'em. Second generation HellHounds may be powerful, but I got nothing on Archangels. My plan is thrown right out the window when said Archangel suddenly shows up in the passenger seat of the car I stole. "You’re a long way from home." The man drawls, popping a skittle into his mouth.   
I shrug my shoulders, shaking off the fact an Archangel just appeared out of nowhere- weirder things have happened in the past several centuries, "So are you- Archangels don't really come down here very often anymore." I point out. For a guy that can smite me in a second, he is really laid back. "I haven't been upstairs in years. Trickster is a much more entertaining job than messenger." He shrugs, finishing off his bag of skittles. 

"Gabriel, huh?" I ask. Gabriel is the only Archangel that is known for carrying messages. "I prefer Loki. Now tell me, why aren't you dragging people down to hell? Hell Hounds aren't known for living alongside the humans." He counters. 

You know, this is probably the most entertaining conversation I've had in years. Lilith isn’t the type for Pleasant conversations. It’s more like ‘do this’, ‘now do that’, ‘did I say you could take a break?’   
"Like you, I didn't like the job. So, I quit." I respond, keeping my eyes on the road. I need to find a place to stay and then find another hunt. "You’re that Hound that prayed to all of us a couple weeks ago! The apocalypse is nigh!" Gabriel exclaims when he realizes it, using an over dramatic tone to describe my message.   
I roll my eyes, "I got red in my ledger. I want to wipe it out. Not like you care, I just found you killing innocent people." I say bitterly.   
"I wouldn't say they're innocent people, I went after them because they were all dicks." He defends. I nod half-heartedly… If he says so.  
"So why does a hell puppy want to help?" He asks, snapping up some gummy bears. No I do not want to ask for a gummy bear. I do not want to ask for a gummy bear.   
I let out a sigh, "I'm one of the first 'Hell Puppies', I’ve been alive for quite awhile, nothing on you but- Awhile. I dragged King George III into hell, I've watched as humanity evolved. I've gotten tired of also watching them throw everything away for stupid things like money or love." I explain. “Also, can I have a gummy bear?” Dammit.   
Gabriel whistles, "That’s too sentimental for me! You do realize by doing this demons will be trying to kill you right? Of course you do, you’ve worked with them for most of your existence." Gabe asks, handing me a gummy bear. I shrug my shoulders, "It's killed by demons for doing the right thing or killed by hunters for dragging people down. My life is a lose-lose scenario, no way out, but it doesn't hurt to try." I point out. There is also that little complication...  
Gabriel goes silent for a second, he then snaps his fingers again and a random string of numbers pops into my head, 202-555-0111. "There, call me if you ever need any help, or you just want to make your day a bit more awesome." He says. "Why would you want to help me?" I ask confused: I'm a hell hound, the last thing an Archangel would want to be even in the same room with.   
"Because I want to out of the goodness of my heart. Well, not entirely. A little while ago I ran into some hunters. The same one that you dragged down not too long ago, actually. I trapped the one not going to hell in an alternate reality. A Groundhog-day style time loop where he had to watch his brother die every single day. It was supposed to teach him that trying to stop his brother from going to hell was impossible, but the moose never gave up." Gabe explains.  
"Two things; One, that is an incredibly mean way of teaching someone a lesson, Two, what does this have to do with why you want to help me?" I say. The Angel/God to my right grumbles under his breath before continuing, "No way out, but it doesn't hurt to try... I may or may not have developed a soft spot for that particular hunter and you remind me of him." He responds. An angel with a soft spot for a hunter. Well, you don’t see that everyday.   
For a trickster, he is acting pretty serious, "Now! Miss I-want-to-help-people-even-though-it-isn't-my-job. You really want to do the impossible and make it up for dragging people into hell?" He asks, regaining the sass I expected him to have. "Yup."  
"Then why don't you drag this one guy out of his hell." He says cryptically. With another snap of his fingers I am no longer in ‘my’ car driving through Montana. I am tumbling down the side of a sand dune. It doesn't hurt, but the unexpected transition pulls a high-pitched sound from my lungs that I am not exactly proud of.   
I roll to a stop, Where the hell did Gabriel send me? There has to be better ways to say that. ‘Gabriel! A little warning would be nice next time!’ I shout in my mind, knowing that he can hear me. I stand up and look around at where I am. This entire valley is in between sand dunes. So I am in some sort of desert. Oh, shit. I hope I'm not on Tatooine.  
The valley is also filled to the brim with weapons, missiles, guns, bombs, you name it, it is here. On the side of each and every crate is one word- Stark. So I am in a military base in a desert. The men around me all have their guns pointed at me, yelling in an unknown language.   
I never bothered to learn most languages, most demons speak English. "Ah… I don't understand… English?" I say putting my hands up, trying to get them not to shoot. Guns aren't going to hurt me, but bullet proof women tend to get people's attention. I am not going to just light them on fire either.   
Why would Gabriel send me here? 'Drag this one guy out of his hell.' So is there someone being held captive here? Being tortured for something? If that’s true I can't just turn around and leave, not saving someone is the same thing as being the one to hurt them.   
A man steps in front of everybody else, speaking English, rather clumsy English but English all the same. "Who are you? Why are you here?" He asks.   
"My name is Candace, as for why I am here, I don't know where 'here' is." I respond keeping my hands up.   
I take another brief glance around, I may not be a genius, but I'm not stupid. Stark is an American weapons manufacturer, these uniforms are not American, They are either terrorists or thieves. And Stark Industries has someone selling weapons to people that shouldn't have them.  
"Well, unfortunately for you, dear, now that you have seen this place, you have to die." The man says drawing his weapon. Within half a second I drop down to the ground and use my powers to cause six of the men around me to spontaneously combust into flames. Not the cleanest way to kill someone but, it works. It takes longer to kill demons, I guess humans are just super fragile. However, I was going for all of them! Why did I only get six?!   
It must be because I haven't used my fire in forever, it's gotten weaker from disuse. I bounce up to try again and a single shot hangs in the air. The bullet goes straight into my shoulder and starts to burn through my skin. Why does his gun fire Iron bullets?! Iron bullets haven't been around since the cannon went out of style!   
While I am shocked from being shot the man who spoke English hits me upside the head with a crowbar, unfortunately made of iron. I am not knocked out but it certainly knocked me down and immobilized me for a second.   
While I am down he handcuffs me. What is it with them and having iron freakin everything?! The man drags me into a cave, through various tunnels and doors. "What happened to killing me, huh?" I ask sassily. That’s what I do- if something gets too serious for me, sass and sarcasm.   
He literally throws me through another door, he shouts something in whatever language that is and closes the iron door behind him. Great, an Iron door, that is going to be fun. I roll over trying to keep pressure off of my shoulder.   
"What did he say?" A voice ask behind me, I shift so I can see what is going on, there are two men, one of them has a car battery attached to his chest. What? I carefully rub my eyes and look again, yup this man has a car battery attached to his chest.  
"He wants us to find a way to control her." The other man said, the one without the battery. Oh, so he basically wants these two humans to find a way to do something demons could not, Lilith tried but still wasn't able to keep me on a leash. Dream big I guess. "Why would he want to control some random chick?" Battery asks. I clumsily get to my feet. "You could, I don't know, ask her?" I say, wobbling over to the table where they are building...something.   
They just then notice I've been shot. "You okay?" No battery asks. "I'm absolutely wonderful! It's not like I have a bullet in my arm and I'm allergic to iron! Who even makes Iron bullets? I thought they were all made of copper." I say with as much sass as possible. Okay, so allergic may not have been the right term, more like Iron disintegrates my being, but close enough.   
Battery looks kind of sheepish, "Iron is a heavier metal, so while it would drastically decrease the range, it would increase the penetration. I only made one case of bullets though." He says, moving to look at the wound. Oh, so he is a decent person, just hides it under miles upon miles of sass, sarcasm and 'I don't give a shit.'  
"Would you mind pulling the thing out?!" I ask. No Battery steps forward with a pair of iron pliers. "Oh, you have to be kidding me! Iron actually burns my skin!" I complain, letting him adjust to that he can easily reach the wound.   
He lets the pliers touch my skin and instantly understands what I meant. The iron left a burn mark where it touched me. "If iron burns your skin, and you have a iron bullet in your shoulder...." Battery trails off.   
"Yeah, it hurts like hell, just get it out!" I say mentally preparing for what is to come. Battery holds my shoulder still while no-Battery plunges the pliers of agonizing pain into the bullet wound. I really should learn their names.  
After a couple of seconds he is able to pull the bullet out. Battery let's go of my arm, "You didn't even whimper, wince or… anything." He says shocked. I just shrug my shoulder, ignoring the pain that is already starting to fade. "I've been to hell and back, this isn't the worst I've gone through." I say. The worst I've gone through would be a tie between Lilith in a bad mood and those decades I spent in purgatory. Hell hounds are hated by other monsters just as much as they are by hunters. Actually, both of them are practically the same thing.  
Battery breaks my handcuffs "Now you going to tell me your names or am I going to keep referring to you two as Battery and No Battery in my head?" I ask sarcastically, ripping a piece of my jeans with my claws and taping it to my shoulder with some duct tape they have lying around.   
"I'm Tony Stark, you may have heard of me, the devilishly handsome, unbelievably charming multi-billionaire?" Battery says. Well, he isn't prideful at all, is he? Devilishly handsome is quite a stretch- Grandad comes to you in the form of the person you desire most.   
"I've heard of you, but most people refer to you as the Egotistical Jerk." I shoot right back, I knew I recognized him from somewhere though.   
"And you?" I ask, turning towards no Battery. "Yinsen." He responds, holding his hand out to me. I shake his hand with a smile, "Nice to meet you Yinsen, I'm Candace Armina." I say. Stark shakes off his shock before getting back to business, "Want to tell us why these guys want us to find a way to 'control' you?" He asks, finger quoting the word control.   
I shrug my shoulders, can't hurt to tell the truth. I hold one hand in front of me and let a single flame dance across my palm, "I'm guessing it is because I made a mistake and let them see my abilities. Now they want to control me so they have a fireproof woman on their side." I say, closing my fist, effectively putting out the fire.  
"Yup, being locked in this room for so long has started to make me go crazy!" Stark says, holding his head in his hands. I just shrug my shoulders, it's probably best for them to believe they are just going crazy. It's better than telling them Ghost, Demons, and Hell Hounds exist. If they ask I'm going to tell them the truth though, if I am trying to redeem myself for dragging souls into hell, lying is the worst way to go about it.   
Yinsen doesn't look that shocked I can control fire, more curious than anything else. "How did you get these powers?" He asks. "I was born with them." I respond. Well, I'm not lying. "Are you a mutant?" Oh, he isn't going to stop is he? "No, I'm not a mutant."   
"Then what are you?" Well, there is no way out of this one. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you..." I say, trying to convince him not to push any further. Knowing Hell and Heaven exist doesn’t exactly ease the mind.   
"Try me."  
I let out a long sigh, "I'm a Hell Hound."


	2. Tortures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rantings of an evil villain, general surprises and terrors, attempted tortures, and sarcastic remarks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some writing i needed to do, so i ended up rewriting some of this. it's still pretty close to what i had in my drafts, though.

Stark blinks once, twice, then bursts out laughing. “Yep, I’m going mad. You’re saying, like Cerberus? Hades’ three-headed mutt?” I shrug off the insult. I am not fond of the word ‘mutt’.  
“Yeah, I’ve met Cerberus. My uncle is actually pretty cool. And yes, very similar. Only I drag people down to hell- Cerberus doesn’t do that, he’s Hell’s guard dog. Well, I did. My side of the family is in charge of dragging people down.” I respond.  
Yinsen doesn’t laugh. Doesn’t back away in horror. Well that’s different. Normally when you tell someone you came from hell they either scream or try to put you in a mental asylum. Tony leans forward, two inches away from my face, “You’re crazy.” There it is!  
“...Which one of us is about to die?” Yinsen asks out of the blue. “Which one of you sold your soul recently?” I shoot back. Their blank stares are the only response I need. “Nobody. I’m supposed to be here to get you out, truly. An archangel sent me here- one minute I’m driving in Montana, next, I’m rolling down a sand dune in hell-knows-where.” Not to mention I kind of quit hellhound-ing.  
“You’re in Afghanistan. The group holding us captive is called the Ten Rings, and they want Tony here to build a missile called the Jericho.” Yinsen informs me. “I’ll take it so far he’s refused?” I mutter.  
“You do realize he’s in the room that we are all locked in? Yeah, I haven’t exactly cooperated, and they haven’t exactly been pleased with me. What time is it now?” Tony’s face falls. “Umm, just about 2 in the afternoon. Why?”  
“You might wanna sit against the wall. And 5,4,3,2-” The bolt in the door slides over and the door creaks open ominously. I feel the blood drain from my face when I see the Ten Rings’ leader and a few henchmen enter. Scrambling back, I see the men reach for a bucket of water. They seize Stark and force his head under the water. It’s obvious they’re trying to force him to build the missile. Flames spark under my hands, turning the sand I’m sitting on into glass. I am beyond pissed right now. Honestly I would rather drag these fuckers down to hell, and face the wrath of Lilith, than watch them torture this man. Why do you think I always bolted right after I dropped souls off with Alastair? It’s hard to watch people in pain… Especially when it should be me…  
Gabriel or Loki or whatever you're called- what the fuck am I supposed to do!? Literally everything here is iron, they are torturing this man, who is injured by the way, and I don't know how I am supposed to get him out if we are all held captive. He could die from those wounds just… give me a hint- how do I do this?  
When the bad guys leave, I stand up and make sure Tony’s ok. Aside from potential complications that may lead to dry drowning, he’s probably going to survive. “Has it really gotten to the point where you can time it?” I ask wryly. “Tony, don't answer that.” Yinsen chuckles.  
“We have to get out of here. This is honestly worse than purgatory. I was stuck there for fucking decades. Do you have any idea what that is like? Being thrown into a never ending battle? When a monster gets killed in monster heaven they pretty much just respawn somewhere else inside monster heaven. No sleep, little food, definitely no burgers… ugh.” I shiver. Tony looks like he wants to argue, but one glare from Yinsen shuts him up.  
Get Tony off the car battery first, then work on some sort of protection. Gabriel/Loki tells me in my head.  
I shatter the glass I inadvertently created and ask, “Can this be used for something? We need to get rid of that car battery, it's not gonna last much longer.”  
Tony’s face lights up brighter than Archangel’s grace. “Creating technology? I’m your guy. I have a design for an arc reactor that can power it. It would normally be made to power buildings or even cities, but if we make it small enough we can put it into my chest.”  
“Well, let’s get started.”  
________  
To be perfectly honest my contribution to this project was practically zero. Sorry, in Hound High they didn’t really have a class about ‘how to build a reactor to save someone's life in an Afghan cave.’  
I helped where I could, doing things like making more glass. We used my fire power to make molding the metal go by a lot faster. I forced myself through the pain every time I had to work with iron. Why is that the only metal they have here? Why not steel? If they want to build a missile, steel would be a better choice anyway.  
Everyday went by the same… They would throw us a single meal, Torture Tony at two o’clock, and I’d accidentally create more glass. The floor is almost glassed over now. Today before they left, they asked how much progress the guys have towards controlling me. I have to hold back a laugh at that… That’s just not happening.  
When the door closes behind them I allow myself to laugh. “What’s so funny? The Hell Puppy find it entertaining watching someone get tortured?” Tony asks coldly, still trying to catch his breath. My laughs immediately stop.  
“I’m laughing because they believe that they have hope of controlling me….If demons couldn’t, they definitely can’t. And these guys are worse than demons.” I respond seriously. Over the past week or so I’ve told them what happened to me the past month or so. Quitting Hell, being chased by her, all that fun stuff. Tony took it pretty well, after he had a mental breakdown. The whole ‘I was not ready to factor the supernatural into my worldview’ thing.  
You know, most people react differently when you tell them an Archangel sent someone here, to drag them out of hell. Speaking of Gabriel, ever since I asked for a gummy bear, I’ve been finding pack of the tasty gelatin mammals everywhere. I asked for a gummy bear, not a life supply. Not that I’m complaining, I mean, it’s better than the slop they try to feed us.  
After another week we finally finish building the arc reactor. We put it into Tony’s chest. Now I can call him lightbulb. I may not have ever studied robotics, but I pick things up pretty quickly. I understand maybe half of what they are saying. That is a huge step up from the nothing I understood last week.  
“Okay, Yay! You’re not going to die before we can get out of here. Just, one teeny tiny question, Nothing important. How the Hell are we getting out of here?!” I ask, quite annoyed with living in this little cave. I might have hated Hell, but at least it didn’t make me feel claustrophobic.  
“I don’t know! Why don’t you use you magic Hell powers to get us out of here!” Tony sasses. I take a minute to remind myself that not everyone knows the strengths and weaknesses of Hell Hounds. “Because...That door is made of Iron. I could melt it away but it would take a lot of time and nearly burn off my hands.” I say as calmly as possible.  
“Well, not every single wall is covered in iron!” Tony argues. “No, it’s not. You’re right. I’ll just start trying to burn my way out of a mountain. And I will do it so quickly that they won’t see it on the cameras.” I retort, as sassily and sarcastically as possible.  
A look of realization crosses over Tony’s face. He probably feels kind of stupid right now. “Okay, so since we can’t rely on magic, why don’t we use this?” Tony asks, putting down a blueprint of a metal suit. That’s not going to attract any attention at all. I burst out laughing.  
“That’s gonna get us outta here? First, how you gonna power it? I doubt that one tiny arc reactor has enough power. Second, are you fucking crazy? If we start this, we won’t have long before they notice it. Third, what the fuck does this even do? Save your lazy ass from a bullet? If you’re making that from IRON, for hell’s sake, you ain’t gonna be protected from shit! I mean, a shield, that’s understandable. Line it with tempered glass, you’ll live- barely. An entire suit? Good luck, buddy.”  
I shove my hands into my jacket pockets, which oddly enough haven’t been shredded, and I feel a plastic package with something squishy in it. Don’t let it be a heart, please don’t let it be a damn human heart. I pull it out and inspect it- and, lo and behold, it’s another package of gummy bears. Damnit Loki… “Well. Does anyone want more gummy bears?” I ask.  
_______  
Despite my reservations, Yinsen, Tony and I begin building this metal armour. The problem we had about little-to-no bullet-resistance was solved by tempering the iron with my fire. Not just that- I was able to cast smaller iron parts in the sand by lining the holes with glass. Yinsen also helped me get outside for a few minutes every few days. I was starting to go stir-crazy.  
It doesn’t take too long to get most of the major components finished. I’m still trying to figure out why Tony insisted on adding flamethrowers to the arms when they have me. Over the weeks in this tiny little cell Tony and I have gotten a bit closer. Still argue every hour or so. That is a huge step up from the beginning when we would argue every five minutes.  
Most of our problems stemmed from our egos clashing and our pride not letting either of us admit it when we are wrong. Although it doesn’t help that Tony is a massive playboy and I am the only female around for miles, hellhound or not. It’s most likely because of this that Tony's conversations with me have become less argumentative and more flirty.  
A little while after we calibrate the legs to move properly, the doors slam open with a bunch of men coming through. I put my hands to my head, trying hard not to roll my eyes. The armed goons all split letting another man through. The first thing I notice about him is that he is bald and has the classic comic book villain look.  
“Relax.” Oh, he even has that cliche villain accent that no one can ever actually place. “The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Atlantic to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great. And four times the size of the Roman empire.” A history lesson? Oh, kill me now. I lived through this! I already know all of this stuff.  
Now, you didn’t hear this from me, but dear Alexander was actually a wussy. He screamed like a little girl when I had to come after him. I guess an invisible Hound coming after you is a bit terrifying.  
“But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons, rules these lands.” The unnamed cliche villain says, turning to Tony. “And soon it will be my turn.” He then turns in my direction, “Along with the help of the girl on fire.” That sounds like a book I’ve read recently. I could set him aflame right now, but with all the guards in the room, that’s probably not wise. When have I ever been wise? I torch one of the guards closest to me, almost immediately turning him into ashes.  
All of the guards left now act as one and open fire on me. Luckily, none of them have iron bullets. They all bounce off my skin like I’m some sort of bugs bunny cartoon. Too bad their leader is observant enough to know how to stop me, hence the iron dagger being held to my throat. I took down half of them, that is enough for now.  
If he slices my throat, I go to purgatory, and she brings me back out to exact vengeance for my betrayal. You know what, I take it all back. History lessons are fine. Please don’t kill me. “How the fuck did you know I hate iron?” I growl. You know, I probably could have been more polite to the man about to kill me, but that's just not my style.  
“I have eyes.” That seems like the appropriate response. “Now, do you want to tell me why my missile isn’t finished yet?” He growls at me. Not quite as literal as when I do it, but close enough. “Oh, we have been working so diligently.” Again, sarcasm probably wasn’t the best way to handle this.  
The still unnamed man presses the dagger closer to my throat, causing that oh so familiar burning sensation. It’s almost like iron is acid to Hounds. “I don’t actually need you. Stark's weapons are more than enough to give me the world, so don’t test me.” Still not as intimidating as her.  
Out of the corner of my eye I see that Yinsen is about to have a hot coal shoved into his mouth. I need to pay more attention to my surroundings. Tony then steps in, “Hey, hey, hey! I need them. They are good assistants.” My hero! (Note the sarcasm.)  
I roll my eyes at his show of stupidity. When people have guns to their heads and daggers to their throats, they don’t draw attention to themself. Annoyed with this entire thing I do what I should have done in the first place. Return to my true form.  
I allow my bones to snap and crack into different positions, my muscles to change shape. The sudden change causes Mr. cliche-villain to back away and drop his knife. Judging from the faces of well, everyone, my shifting is quite the grotesque sight. I don’t immediately disappear when I finish shifting, because Hounds can choose whether or not to be visible.  
I never exactly looked at myself in the mirror like this but I know what other hounds look like. Red eyes with cat like pupils, black dagger-like teeth. The newer generations of Hound have rotten flesh clinging to their bones, side effect of the mixed DNA I guess. I’m just a skeleton of a large canid. If I choose, I can make myself appear to have regular fur, but that isn’t as intimidating as a skeleton, with glowing red eyes and fire for organs.  
The men and their leader all make a break for the door, closing it as quickly as they can behind them. The man, still don’t know his name, shouts from the little peephole in the door. “You better have my missile complete by tomorrow!”  
I burst out laughing, which sounds like a mix between a wolf howling and bones clanking against each other. Tony and Yinsen are looking at me with shock, opening and closing their mouths like fish. “S-so, this is what you actually look like?!” Tony asks, a little on edge. Yinsen, again, is showing no fear whatsoever, just pure curiosity.  
“More or less. I’m normally invisible, unless you’ve made a deal of course.” I respond with a grin. Fading away for just a moment before reappearing. Tony takes a minute to adjust and absorb this information.  
“When you’re not growling, glaring and demanding Death’s presence, you look kinda cool. Like someone’s pet named Spike or Bones.” Tony says after a minute. I loudly roll my eyes, “Death is a busy guy. The only reason he would be here is if I offered him a pizza.” Not to mention the fact he can’t appear on this plane until someone completes that one ritual.  
“Death likes pizza?” Of course that is the only thing Tony would gather from that sentence. I sigh, a bit of fire coming out of my mouth as a result. “Did you not hear him? We have one day to build the missile before he comes back and kills one of us. And this time he will be armed to the teeth in Iron.” I remind, trying to get Mr. I-Do-Whatever-I-Want to focus.  
“Right...We got 24 hours to complete the suit. I need 24 and a half.” Tony says, already getting to work. Well, I guess we better get moving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave kudos and reviews, it keeps me motivated. i'm sorry it took me three months to post this after the first one, and i'm glad you guys liked that. but seriously, every time i see 'you've got kudos' in my inbox, i smile for the rest of the day.


	3. Escapes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escape occurs. A valley is set aflame. Many more sarcastic remarks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nothing has been changed in this chapter. mostly because i'm lazy and exhausted. also because i'm working on the sequel to this. it'll be a long time coming.

Tony’s POV:  
When I said 24 and a half hours I was not taking into account Candace’s magic fire powers. I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around magic fire powers to begin with. Along with monsters and demons and everything else? Not exactly easy.  
It’s kinda hard to get used to the fact that this woman in front of me, isn’t a woman at all. Sure she is female, but not a human female. She sure looks human- An average one at that. Average brunette hair, average height. Her skin tone, however, is anything but normal. It looks like a corpse tried to get a tan, if that makes any sense. Super pale with a tan? Hey, I’m making no sense whatsoever.  
We all work diligently on completing the Mark-I. Not the most original name, I know, but it works. Candace actually helps out a lot more than I thought she would. At first she would only use her magic flames to bend the iron into the shape we needed it to be, but now she is helping us with the actual electronics. She is a fast learner- I’ll give her that.  
Yinsen is working just as diligently. Trying to get back to his family, no doubt. Eventually, about an hour before Mr. What’s-His-Name promised to be back, we finish the Mark-I. “Umm, hey Stark?” Candace asks, “Once we break out of here, can I drag these bastards’ souls down to hell?”  
I raise an eyebrow, while I am not against it. “Aren’t you trying to redeem yourself for doing just that?” I remind, putting everything together so that the suit is easier to put on. “And I thought they had to make a deal to go to hell?” I ask.  
Her cheeks flush every so slightly, I almost missed it. “I am...but I didn’t see a problem with ordering a hit on them. They may not die immediately but when they do, they will be dragged into the pit. My nieces and nephews may be stupid but they are extremely loyal to whoever ranks highest.” She responds. “And family.” She adds, almost as an afterthought.  
I shrug my shoulders, “Why are you asking me? I want these suckers dead probably even more than you do.” I respond. It’s not like I could tell her what to do anyway. “Now come over here and help me put this on.” I say gesturing towards the suit. “Right. Help you put on the iron suit. Sure thing.” What’s her problem?  
She does just that, only after about the first half of the suit has been put on do I realize why she was in such a sour mood. The skin on her hands is almost completely burnt, no, Melted off. Iron, I had her work with iron. For a genius I can be really stupid, can’t I? When we get out of here I will have to research Hellhounds and practically everything else I just learned is real.  
“What are you doing?!” I nearly yell at her, if Iron would hurt her then she should have just refused to work with it. “My job...Getting you two out of here.” She says, still helping me put the suit on, while Yinsen starts to work on uploading the last powering sequence.  
“Your Job, is to drag people down into hell! F-11! Not nearly lose your hands helping me!” I continue to argue with her, shouting the keycodes at Yinsen at the same time. “Well I decided to change occupations! This one, Helping people, helping you? I actually like it.” Candace screams back, buttoning up the last button.  
Guards are now pounding at the door, asking something in whatever language that is. It sounds different than what the guards normally speak in. I am surprised when Candace shouts something back. She explains at my confused look, “Hungarian, we make a lot of deals there. Almost as many as Russia.”  
The men outside the door decide to come in, setting off the bomb we placed there. “Great, now every guard in this place is going to be coming here.” Candace comments. She uses sarcasm a lot. “Is everything a joke to you, Candace?” I snap. “Oh, funny things are.” She retorts.  
I will have to remember that. It was a decent comeback. Yinsen mutters to himself before running out the door. “~Where are you going?!~” Candace and I chorus. “To get us some more time.” To get yourself killed is more like it. “Stick to the plan!” I shout after him.  
“I’ll go get that idiot.” Candace says before moving after him. Without even realizing it, I reach forward, grab her hand and yank her back, away from the doors. I glare at her, not to intimidate her (I couldn’t if I tried), but to get her to understand my point.  
“We stick to the plan! You go invisible girl, or wolf, and knock out the lights. We wait for them to come to us.” I tell her. I can tell by the look in her eye she hates being ordered around but she sees my point and concedes. I release my hold on her and she immediately disappears. If it was any other time I would wish I could go invisible. Would have made highschool so much more enjoyable.  
Within a couple seconds all of the lights shatter and the fire in the furnace goes out. Again, her powers are so cool. I never said that. About a dozen guards come barging into the cell that has served as our home for the past couple months. Half of them immediately catch on fire and burn to ashes. I take out the others. With this huge suit all it takes in one punch and they are knocked out. I’m pretty sure I snapped several of their necks.  
Candace and I barrel through the tunnels. Candace keeps turning people into piles of ash and I keep breaking their necks. Behind us, If I didn’t know any better I would say that there is a pack of wolves, howling, barking, snarling. Is that the sound of Candace’s family dragging those men into hell? I suddenly really don’t want to get on her folks’ bad side. Seems like a Hellish place to be.  
After we come around another corner I see a sight I really wish I hadn’t. Yinsen, he is heavily injured. “Come on. We gotta go. Move with me. C'mon, we got a plan, we need to stick to it.” I say, trying to pull him to his feet.  
I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder. I look just in time to see Candace become visible again. She lightly shakes her head, “I can see his reaper...He isn’t going to make it.” She says softly. No, no, no. There is always a way. “C’mon! You gotta get up buddy! This isn’t in the plan!” I nearly beg. “This was always the plan, Stark.” Yinsen wheezes.  
What does he mean? “Come on, you're going to go see your family again.” I push, trying to get him to keep fighting. “My family is dead… I’m going to see them now.” No, no, no, no! I turn to Candace, “Is there something you can do? Anything you can do?” I ask.  
She lightly shakes her head, “To help him in life, No...” She trails off. She isn’t telling me everything. “And in death?” I push. She lets out a sigh, “Oh, I’m going to regret this.” She says, closing her eyes. “Gabriel? Can you please ensure that Yinsen shares a Heaven with his family? I will owe you a favor.” She says, almost like she is praying.  
Exactly how bad is it to owe an Archangel a favor? The way she said it makes it sound like the worst thing ever. A single orange feather appears out of nowhere and floats down and lands on Yinsen’s chest. The second it lands, Yinsen stops wheezing, his eyes becoming lifeless. Attached to the feather is a note. Did an Archangel just send her a message?  
  
Dear Hell Puppy, Hey! That is my nickname for her.  
While I am happy you have kept in contact, there is a reason I gave you my phone number! (Angels have cell phones?) Whenever someone prays to me it give me a stupid headache! Next time you need help, CALL!  
Tootles~  
The Awesome Trickster Gabriel  
P.s. I am going to hold you to that. You now owe me a favor.  
P.P.s. I hope you liked the gummy bears.  
P.P.P.s. Don’t die.  
  
Rage fills my soul. Sure he wanted to die and got to see his family again. I’m still going to kill these motherfuckers for letting him die. For killing my friend. “Let’s give ‘em Hell.” I say. I don’t even have to look at Candace to know that she is grinning like a mad dog.  
We charge through the rest of the men, barks and howls still coming from Candace’s family. When we first charge out of the mountain the bright light almost blinds me. “The fuck is that? Hellfire?” I mutter. “That, dear Tony, is called ‘sunlight’.”  
I was about to snap at her but was promptly cut off by bullets hitting the armor. Hundreds of them. It is a good thing Candace decided to re-enforce the suit. Regular iron would not be able to withstand this. Not that I would ever tell her that.  
Good thing Candace is bulletproof, and I only made a couple boxes of iron bullets. After a couple moments the rain of bullets stops, most likely because they had to reload. “~My Turn.~” Candace and I say in unison. Almost immediately the entire valley is set on fire.  
We walk and burn. Then I remember this entire valley is filled with explosives...Oops. I quickly grab Candace’s hand and pull her towards me. “Ready to Fly?” I ask, preparing to turn on the rocket boots I had installed. “Are you?” She asks. Nope not at all. I asked her because she is the one that is going to be held in the air against an Iron suit. Next time I’ll build it with something not Iron.  
I turn on the boots and we launch in the air. The entire ride is a sequence of, Holy Shit that is Hot! Yay! We achieved lift off! Why is the ground getting closer? Shit, Shit, Shit! And then I hit head first into a sand dune. Luckily Candace jumped off beforehand and rolled when she landed. She is almost perfectly fine….Can Blunt force even hurt her? I doubt it.  
She scrambles over and starts helping me out of the wreckage of the suit. This is the first time I’ve gotten a good look at her injuries. Her hands are red and raw, very likely to get infected. Patches of her skin is missing from where she was clinging onto the suit. She looks like she has been in a burning building.  
And here she is….helping me out of the suit, hurting herself even more. When I finally get out of this destroyed piece of machinery Candace backs away and nearly collapses. “You okay?” I ask, using my hand to keep her steady.  
She waves me off, “Yeah, I’m fine…” She pants. She doesn't look or sound fine. “...Let’s just get as far away from here as possible. You're Tony Stark, I’m sure there are people looking for you.” She says. Starting to slow down her breathing.  
How is she so calm? We just escaped from captivity, survived a valley-sized bomb, and are now lost in the desert and she is still thinking rationally? I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure that level of calm only comes with a lot of practice.  
“How are you so calm?” I eventually ask, after walking for quite a ways. She lets out a sigh, “I’ve told you about her right?” She asks suddenly. After a couple minutes, I remember. It took Yinsen and I fifteen minutes to convince her to say her name, Lilith, “She was your former employer down under.” The pained laugh that comes from her throat nearly makes me want to cry. How can a laugh, of all things, sound so depressed?  
“Employer is a nice way of putting it. I wasn’t working for her by choice. She basically forced me to work for her, just because I was- am- the highest ranking hellhound. Fire isn’t a common ability for us, the only reason I have it is because I am of the second generation.”  
Second generation? Wasn’t the first during something, something B.C. “....How old are you?” I ask cautiously, fully expecting to be slapped. She just laughs, a bit lighter than before. “I honestly lost count. One month up here is Ten years down there.” That probably sucks.  
“All I can say for certain is the I was the one to drag Heracles down to hell.” I blink at her once, twice. Then try to rub the sand out of my eyes. “You look barely Twenty-Five!” I exclaim. There is no way she is hundreds or thousands or millions of years old.  
She shrugs her shoulders. “Hell Hounds are technically monsters and monsters technically can never die- fully die. We either go to Purgatory, Tartarus, Niflheim, Etc. Etc. Eventually some idiot opens the door and lets us all back out. Technically, since I will never fully die, I am still in my middle ages, or I could still be in the first portion of my life.”  
I absorb this information. “You talk about those places. Purgatory, Tarta-Whatever. Like you have been there…” I point out. Her shoulders sag. “Yeah, I have. All three..and I can’t tell you which one is the worst. Purgatory, Tartarus and Niflheim are practically the same thing. An eternal battle ground where monsters die over and over again. You just have to face different monsters.” She starts to explain.  
“Purgatory you don’t have to eat or drink to survive. Just make sure you aren’t eaten by a Vampire, Werewolf, Shifter...or worse, a Leviathan.” She visibly shudders at the word, I take it she has meet one of these things.  
“In Tartarus you do have to eat and drink, you eat the monsters around you and for water, there are five rivers to choose from...The Styx, the Lethe, the Acheron, the Cocytus, and the Phlegethon. If you touch the Styx you experience unbelievable pain, the Lethe, instant amnesia, Acheron, you become very depressed and lose your will to survive. Cocytus is the river of lamentation; you mourn everyone and everything. And finally the only one you can risk drinking from...The Phlegethon. River of fire.”  
How does one drink from a river of fire? “It tastes how you would expect gasoline and oil would taste, mixed with awfulness. It doesn’t matter if you are immune to fire, it burns going down. It doesn’t even quench your thirst- increases it actually- but it will keep you alive. Then there are the monsters. Giants, Titans, Curses, Yes, there are monsters called the Curses. There are even gods of the underworld in there.”  
“Then there is Niflheim…..It is just basically another Hell. If you didn’t die a heroic death then you go to Niflheim, nothing to it. Of course that includes all of the monsters who refuse to give up on fighting. It doesn’t matter which one I go to. Hell Hounds are hated everywhere. We are often favored in life, so the other monsters make up for it in death. The moment I step foot in there I become target number one.”  
It all sounds horrible. Of course she then has to keep talking. “When ever I did anything against her orders, be it as big as running away or as small as taking a break, She would shove me into one of the three for a decade. The worst part is you can't get away…You can only get out of there, If someone lets you…”  
By now she is visibly shaking, memories washing over her in waves. I place a hand on her shoulder, even though I know her pride won’t let her accept the comfort. She just ran away from Lilith, didn’t she? Lilith forces her to drag people down, she decided to do something different and save people. The very second she goes back to Hell she is going to be put through, well, Hell. “Do you have a place to go?” I ask, softly.  
She breaks out of whatever flashback she was having and turns to me. “No, I’m pretty much just going wherever the wind takes me… Helping people wherever I can.” She responds. She just risked her life to help me. I can at least offer her a place to stay. She just dragged me out of my own personal Hell, I cannot immediately throw her back into hers.  
“Why don’t you stay with me? Beach front property, pool, everything you could ever need. Plus, no demons live nearby. It’s candyland.” I prompt talking in that weird voice salespeople do during commercials. I can see she is tempted. Very tempted actually.  
“You’re not going to freak out if I draw symbols on your walls?” Candace asks suddenly. I think about it for a second. “Would it still work if you drew them on the back of paintings?” I ask, I don’t need my entire house looking like some devil worship shrine. “Yes.” “Then I am fine with it.”  
“On the bottom of all of your rugs?” “Don’t care.”  
“If I salt the windows?” “...Would you put the salt in a tube and place it above the windows, like in the curtain rod. Like a giant pixie stick but with salt?” “....Why did no one ever think of that?”  
“What if I have you get a tattoo?” “What sort of Tattoo?” “An anti-possession symbol.” “How big would it need to be?” “I’ve seen ones smaller than a quarter work.” “Sure. I’ve always wanted a reason for a tattoo anyway.”  
She narrows her eyes at me, before holding out her hand. “Nice to meetcha, roomie.” Yay! I convinced a Hell Hound to live with me. “Does this mean I have a pet Hell Hound?! I’m gonna name her Skulls.” I should have seen that punch coming… But, damn she can throw a punch!  
We walk for what seems like forever, Candace bringing up random things she might do if I let her live with me. “There are going to be times when I suddenly just vanish in the night because I found a ghost a few states over.” “Send me a text and I won’t panic.”  
“There are going to be nights that I come home covered in blood…” “I can just replace any floors that you stain, just try not to scare Pepper.” I respond with a sigh, “Who’s Pepper?” She asks, suddenly. I guess I never told her. “My assistant, usually hangs around the house. You could consider her a special other.”  
Candace looks at me for a second, “So, you flirt with her endlessly and she just ignores all of your advances.” She declares. My silence must have answered her question for her. “She either has a boyfriend she hasn’t told you about, is a lesbian, doesn’t want to be that girl who is dating her boss, doesn’t want to be just a one night stand like all of your other flings… Or… Or! She just isn’t into you.”  
“That’s impossible...Who wouldn’t be into this?” I ask, trying to ignore how dry my mouth is becoming the longer we are out here. At what point do people start walking in circles? “Straight guys, homosexual girls, childr-” “Okay, I get it!”  
It’s like she is trying to be as annoying as possible. If this keeps up I might just retract my statement about her coming to live with me…...Oh! “Do you not want to come live with me or something?” I ask, interrupting her humming of ‘Eye of the Tiger’. At least she likes good music. “Do you want to get punched in the face again?” I shake my head no, slowly. “Nice to clear that up. Anyway, what kind of music do you like?” She asks, giving me the ‘don’t talk about that again’ look. “ACDC, Black Sabbath, Survivor, oh and Zeppelin.”  
“I think we will get along just fine…” She announces.  
How is it that I went from sleeping with every girl with a heartbeat, to a cave, to finding a roommate in the desert? How did I go from a normal life (for a billionaire) to this? It’s just not natural. “One could say it’s supernatural…” Candace says. I blink at her. “You were thinking out loud.”  
After another hour, I think it was an hour, of back and forth banter with the Hot-as-hell dog, a helicopter passes overhead. An American one! Candace and I don’t even bother walking over to the chopper, we just allow ourselves to collapse right then and there.  
Rhodey comes up to me…Oh, I never thought I would miss that ugly mug. “How was the fun-vee? Next time, you ride with me, okay?” He says, helping me up. That is when he notices Candace, who is nearly passed out from the burns and excessive walking.  
“Who is that?” He asks. I see all of the army men pointing their guns at her, not knowing if she is a threat. She is going to be if you fire any of those guns, they aren’t going to do jack squat against the bulletproof woman. She is just going to be pissed off. She tends to light things on fire when that happens. “A fellow captive- she helped me escape. Be careful, she’s injured quite a bit.”  
I keep an eye on the soldiers as they gently move her into the Copter and treat some of the many wounds on her. I nearly had a heart attack when they tried to use salt water to disinfect the wounds. “Stop!” Thinking of the first excuse that popped into my head, “She has severe allergic reactions to high levels of sodium.” Well, technically it’s true... I think. Or was that Ghosts? Oh, well better safe than sorry. If I’m wrong, then, oh well. I don’t think she can get infected anyway.  
“Tony, let’s get you two back to the states. Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> leave kudos and comments if you liked this!


	4. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Many explanations are given. Cheeseburgers are consumed. Geniuses are annoyed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> html is hard to learn and i'm gonna have to use a lot of it for the rest of this story.  
> FUCK IT. THE LAST PART IS IN BOLD AND 'M TOO TIRED TO FIX IT.

Candace’s POV:  
I wake up slowly, which is a comfort compared to not sleeping at all. The first thing I noticed when I woke up is that I am airborne. In Zeus’s domain. That’s not good… he hasn’t exactly been happy with me ever since I dragged his son into hell. I really hope he is over that now that Hercules is out and currently a god. Well, the chopper is still in the sky so I guess we’re good? There is no lightning… no severe wind… I guess he stopped holding a grudge. Perhaps I should send him a ‘thanks for not killing me’ card. Where would I find that? Hallmark. Definitely Hallmark.  
Once my eyes open fully, I see Tony lying on a stretcher beside me. I’m not gonna bother him, he deserves to sleep. Not to mention, he looks adorable when he is asleep…..I didn’t say nothing. I glance around and notice I am surrounded by army men. From one military camp to another I guess. Considering the fact none of them have guns to my head I am going to say that this one is going to be a lot more enjoyable.  
“What’s your name?” Someone asks me, I look in the direction of the voice to see an African American soldier with a mustache and beard a lot like Tony’s. “Candace Armina. Sir.” I respond, sitting up a bit, wincing as the bandages rub up against the burns the iron left me with. “No need to call me ‘sir’. I’m Colonel Rhodes, but you can call me Rhodey.”  
Rhodey, huh. “It’s nice to meet you… Where are we going?” I ask after a minute of silence. “We are going to a nearby airfield where Tony’s private jet is waiting to take him back to the states. There, we will call a taxi that will take you anywhere you want to go.” Rhodey tells me.  
This is when Tony decides to reveal he has been awake for a couple minutes. “Actually bud… She is coming with me…” He starts sitting up, with just as much pain as I was in, and leans on my shoulder, more for support than anything else but it works with the scenario. “Rhodey… Meet my new roomie!” “I assure you, it’s a vastly different situation than what you’re thinking.” I interject quickly.  
Rhodey crosses his arms, “Then explain the situation.” Glancing around I realized all of the other men are wearing those mufflers to filter out gunshots, they can’t hear a word we are saying. “You sure you want the truth?” I ask. And with a single nod one more person in the world learned the truth about everything….Then he spent the entire ride having a panic attack. I really want to meet someone who doesn’t panic after I tell them ‘the truth is out there’ speech.  
[Page Break]  
We finally arrive home after nearly half a day of flying. Rhodes finally stopped panicking, then demanded I tell him absolutely everything about how to defend from the Supernatural. After this I can guarantee you will have a silver pocket knife and some salt on him at all time. Next week he is probably going to have a new tattoo.  
We get off of Tony’s private plane and I immediately notice a red-head standing in front of a vehicle, along with a bodyguard. I happily walk up to her, “You must be Pepper Potts. It’s nice to put a name to a face.” Turning towards the driver, “And you must be Happy.” I am not going to laugh at his name- that would be mean. I am not going to laugh at his name.  
“Yes… And you are?” Pepper asks with an unsure smile. That is when Tony leans on my shoulder (again). “My new roomie!” and again I sigh, “The situation is not what you are speculating.”  
“You mean you didn’t meet in the middle of the desert, he found out you didn’t have a place to go and he decided to offer you a place because under all of that sass, sarcasm and ‘I don’t give a shit’ he actually cares?” Pepper asks. “What tipped you off?” I respond. “No need to respond- that was rhetorical. No, you’re actually not far off. I got captured maybe a month after Tony did and we managed to escape the bad guys together.”  
“Of course, there are a couple of details we will have to tell you in private….” Tony trails off. Great so he want two more people to know the truth. Well, I can’t stop him. I think they deserve to know if I’m going to be living around them.  
Pepper, Tony and I all pile into the car with Happy driving. “Where to, sir?” Happy asks. “Take us to the hospital please.” Pepper asks before Tony cuts her off. “No.” “No?! Tony, you need to go to the hospital.” “I don’t have to do anything.”  
Wow, they squabble like an old married couple. “Tony, what are you thinking?” I sigh. “You’ve been in captivity for two months, me for three. I know there is something we both want…” The look he is giving me is sending all sorts of weird signals. “...An American Cheeseburger.”  
That sounds absolutely amazing. “With bacon?” I ask rhetorically. “Is there any other way?” Tony returns. “The wrong way.” “I knew I liked you for a reason.” That is when Pepper snaps, “You have to be kidding me! You could have a concussion or brain damage,” she turns to me- “You are half covered in burns and all either of you can think about is a Bacon Cheeseburger?!”  
“No, all I can think about is an American Cheeseburger, with bacon...” Tony starts, “...That stuff over there tastes like a corpse.” I finish. Judging by the look on Tony’s face he knows that I am being completely literal right now. “~Please just get my cheeseburger.~” We chorus.  
“It’s like there is two of you! I’m going to go insane…” Pepper says rubbing her head. “Well, Since you’re already on the brink of insanity…” “...Why don’t we go ahead and push you over.” And thus began the process of explaining to Pepper and Happy that the monsters in the dark are real.  
Through the shock of it all Pepper didn’t even argue with Tony when he called for a press conference. What is he doing now?  
[Page Break]  
When we arrive at the conference hall someone hands us our cheeseburgers. After a single bite I don’t know whether or not to be disappointed or happy. After two months I finally get another Cheeseburger, but they forgot the bacon. Tony doesn’t even bother asking before he snatches the bacon-less burger out of my hands and turns to the guy who got us our food.  
“What is this?” He asks confused.”Uh… A burger, Sir?” The kid asks. “It’s a bacon cheeseburger.” Tony nods, “Notice anything missing from our bacon Cheeseburgers?” He asks, mockingly. I’m just glad there are no cameras right here. “Bacon?” Tony nods with a smile. “Can you fix this, quickly? Before the conference is over, okay?” Tony never raises his voice or even acts mad, yet the kid is terrified. I bet he is an intern that thought working for Tony Stark would be really cool.  
Tony and I walk out into the conference room and cameras immediately go off. Oh great, Now the entire world will think I am Tony Stark’s newest fling. I had intended to just stand with the crowd but Tony dragged me up to the mic with him. A bald man tried to start off this conference but Tony interrupts.  
“Hey, would it be alright if everyone sat down? Will you sit down? That way you can see me, and I can… A little less formal…” Tony asks. I really wish I had a burger right now. “I never got to say goodbye to my father. There's questions that I would've asked him. I would've asked him how he felt about what his company did......if he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts.”  
“Or maybe he was every inch of a man we all remember from the newsreels. I saw young Americans killed......by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero-accountability.”  
Screw a burger, I need a glass of scotch… And a burger. All of the hands in the audience shoot up, members start asking questions. I don’t even bother trying to decipher who is saying what. Tony randomly points to someone in the front row. “Two questions…”  
“Well...you’re only allowed one…” Tony mutters, too quiet for anyone but me to hear. “Who is she? And What happened over there?” I sigh and stand up to the microphone, “Sir, if you want to know about someone, ask them directly.” I say glaring daggers into his soul.  
“My name is Candace Armina. I met Tony Stark over there. I was made a captive about a month after he was. We became friends and helped each other escape. That is all I am going to tell you about myself because that is all you need to know. Now, because I know how the paparazzi work, I know that after this conference all of you will search for dirt on me or my family to try and sully Tony’s name. You will do this by any means necessary, be it bribes or sleeping with someone. Yet you won’t find anything. Not even a parking ticket. But I encourage you to try.”  
After my little speech I start walking away, “I’ll be in the car.” I say behind me, knowing Tony will hear me. These guys really annoyed me. I wasn’t lying when I said they wouldn’t find anything on me, I don’t have a birth certificate or social security number, I am literally no one in this society. It is going to be fun watching all of the theories that pop up, especially since none of them will be even remotely true.  
I plop down into the car. The little divider that separates Happy from us is up, so I can’t tell if Happy is here or not. I really want that burger now, and the glass of scotch. “Well, I can’t get you a burger..It would look kind of odd seeing as you currently have an unpaid intern going to get one for you… But I’m pretty sure Mr. Light Bulb keeps scotch under the seat.”  
Is that? Sure enough, when I look over Gabriel the Trickster is sitting beside me. How did I not notice him? “Probably because you were more focused on not burning everyone in the building alive.” He says with a smirk, eating a snickers.  
So he can read minds. “You got it.” He says snapping a ‘winner’ ribbon onto my shirt… Tony luckily bought me an outfit that wasn’t torn to shreds before we got here. Makes me look like a stripper though. “Well, I think it looks fabulous!” Gabriel announces. Yeah, that is not going to get annoying at all.  
“I’m guessing there is no point is saying get out of my head?” I ask. “Eh, I can try. Casse toi.”  
“Oh? I’m starting to want you to make me.” He smirks. “Want a gummy bear?” I sigh. “Last time I asked that, you gave me a two month supply. I’m good.” And the stomach ache never went away. He raises an eyebrow, “And if I asked if you wanted a Bacon-Cheeseburger? Actually with bacon?”  
What do I do here? Do I ask for a Burger and just tell the intern he was too slow so I got one myself? That’s not believable. After a couple more moments of trying to convince myself a two month long supply of Bacon Cheeseburgers is a bad thing I decide to just get to the point.  
“Why are you here?” I don’t want a Cheeseburger that badly, I don’t want a Cheeseburger that badly. “Oh? I can’t just drop in to see my favorite puppy?” Gabriel asks. “Angels aren’t known for doing something for the Hell of it.” I point out. Gabe rolls his eyes, is he going to be upset if I call him Gabe?  
“Nah, go ahead.” _Stay out of my head. _“It is very contradictory to tell me that from inside your head!” He sings. “You're right, I am here for a reason, this time. I’m here to keep you updated on the Apocalypse both of us are trying to avoid. My little brothers and Sisters are currently laying siege to Hell to get the righteous man out. Too bad the first seal has already broken.” Dammit!__  
Wait, I should have been able to sense the seal breaking...Why didn’t I? “Probably because you were give the iron giant a hug at the time. Burning alive tends to distract people from what is going on.” Gabe says, finishing up his Snickers and popping up a milky way.  
“Sure you don’t want a burger?” I really do...Why am I saying no again? Because he will keep giving me burgers? Why is that a bad thing again. I could always give the ones I don’t eat to Tony…. _Yes, I want a burger. _“Nah a ha! I have to hear to give you it!” Gabe sings. “FINE. I want the fucking burger. Please can I have the fucking Bacon Cheeseburger?” I say, sucking up my pride.__  
He give me a smirk, snaps and with that he disappears, leaving behind the best Bacon Cheeseburger I have ever tasted behind. About halfway through the Bacon Cheeseburger Tony comes back, holding the bag of burgers the intern went to go get.  
“I got the burgers! And the guy remembered bacon this time.” He announces happily. Then he notices my face is stuffed already with the best burger on the planet. “How did- When did you- What?” He asks, checking to make sure none of them are missing from the bag.  
I swallow the mouthful of burger and decide to tell the truth. “I asked Gabriel for a burger…” I say guiltily, taking another bite. I don’t care if I look like some pig, It tastes good! “So now we are most likely going to be given a two month supply of Bacon Cheeseburgers….” Tony trails off. Pepper still looking shocked at the fact an Archangel was in the car. I nod once.  
“I still don’t know why you call the guy annoying. He gives you massive supplies of Candy and Burgers….” “You’ve never met him.”  
[Page Break]  
Happy drives us to a remote place in Malibu. I honestly thought he was taking me to some farmhouse on the outskirts of town to kill me. Okay, that is a little dramatic, but that’s what it felt like for a minute! Imagine my surprise when we pull up to this massive house, no, scratch that. Mansion.  
Tony notices my face immediately, “Yeah, I know. It’s small, I’m working on building a bigger place in New York though.” “It’s bigger than any other safe house I’ve been in, that's for fucking sure.” I comment, walking into the house after Tony and Pepper.  
Immediately after walking into the house I feel another consciousness. Almost like a soul, but different, slightly less emotions. “Welcome home Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts. It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Candace Armina.” A voice comes from the ceiling.  
I would like to say that my centuries of battle training had me completely calm. Nope! Never, in my many many years on this earth have I encountered a talking ceiling. I am ashamed to admit it but I jumped about ten feet in the air.  
Tony and Pepper start cracking up while I calm my heart rate. **_Oh… Did the little puppy get frightened?_ **A very annoying voice says from inside my head. Stay out! I nearly bark. “My Apologies for frightening you, Miss Armina. I am J.A.R.V.I.S.- Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, designed by Mr. Stark.” The AI says.  
** ** Well, that explains it. Somehow Tony figured out how to give a machine emotions, that’s why it feels like there is another soul here… Souls are basically a Nuclear bomb of emotions. **_Nah, I don’t think I will. I’m bored and you’re entertaining._  
** Then at least Shut up! I tell him mentally before turning to Tony. “You couldn’t have told me that sooner?” I ask, referring to JARVIS. He just innocently shrugs his shoulders, “It wouldn’t have been as funny if I told you beforehand.” **_He has a point. “Shut up.” I mutter._  
** **_Make me. _ **“Make me.” I’m going to go insane! I sigh, before turning to Pepper, she isn’t going to purposefully torture me, who looks confused. “There’s an archangel in my head, and I can't get him out.” She nods with uncertainty. “Oh.” “Tony, do you believe me now when I said Gabe is annoying?” _Go bother him, please. At least prove my point for me? Like, go sing Defying Gravity 20 times in a row. Go annoy him for a while! **Fine! But I’m coming back for you. __**_**__ **Tony looks dumbstruck at first, but when I start singing Defying Gravity and he hears Gabe sing along, he runs. Bolts up the stairs and probably to his room. “GODDAMNIT CANDACE GET HIM OUT! I TAKE IT BACK HE IS ANNOYING! PLEASE! CANDACE MAKE HIM STOP.” I can hear him, even from where I’m standing, a floor below. Pepper starts cracking up, and I sing the ending riff in the song, leaving Tony to be tortured for 19 more renditions of it, as sung by the Neighborhood Trickster.  
** ** [Page break]  
It’s about 40 minutes later when Tony walks back downstairs, looking quite ridiculous. His hair is messed up, he’s changed into slacks and an old band t-shirt, and he is covered in motor oil. **_Well, I think he liked it. **Of course he did. _“What did you build this time, Tony?” Pepper asks, still smiling. “Weapons disarmer- makes any explosive weapon immediately become inert. That’s all.” “I beg to differ, Sir.” JARVIS speaks up, “That’s not all you were doing.” He (it?) pulls up a short video clip of Tony dancing and singing along to Gabriel. “What? No! No! I- ugh, JARVIS, delete that video.”_**_  
** “Cancel that order, J. Save the video and open a file called ‘Tony’s Blackmail’. I have a feeling Candace is gonna need it quite a bit.” A voice says from behind me. **_Didja miss me? **You were gone for maybe 3 minutes. _“Tony, Pepper, Happy, and JARVIS, meet Gabriel. Also known as the Trickster, or bearer of the best known bacon cheeseburgers.” I introduce him to my new ‘family’. “Hey. I know all you guys. I kinda saved Candace and Tony from starving in the Afghani desert by sending them a bunch of gummy bears, back when Tony was still attached to a car battery.”_**_  
** I can see Pepper getting that ‘what did you do this time’ expression. I’ve only known the woman for a day and she terrifies me because she can get shit done when she needs to. And right now, that ‘shit she needs to get done’ is yelling at Tony for having a car battery attached to his chest. “Tony… Might wanna run.” I mutter. “Too late.” Gabe smirks. We sit and watch as Pepper yells at Tony for risking his life unnecessarily. I think I ate two more bacon cheeseburgers during that time. Happy declined.  
“J, please post the Defying Gravity clip on YouTube. I feel the need to ruin Tony’s day.” I smile, looking toward Gabe for approval. “Sounds good!” He says. Sweet. “Clip was posted. Anything else?” JARVIS asks. “Nope, that’s all. Thanks, though!”  
Yeah, I think that’s enough pranking/life ruining for a day. After a little while longer Tony finally stops getting yelled at and Pepper calms down. I then turn to Gabriel, “So, why are you here this time?” I ask, my question getting Pepper and Tony’s attention.  
Gabe looks seriously offended, “Why do I have to have a reason to come see you?” He asks. Wait, didn’t we already have this conversation? Like two hours ago? “Yea, we did, and I’ve also already told you this… I am bored… And you’re entertaining.” Gabe drawls with an annoyed sigh, I take it he doesn’t like explaining things twice. “Nope!”  
“Don’t you have another person you could annoy? What about that hunter you’re so fond of?” I ask, remembering that conversation we had in ‘my’ car before I got forcefully ejected from Montana. “Samoose? He isn’t going to do anything interesting for another two weeks or so.” He says, popping up another heavenly bacon Cheeseburger. This one has ketchup and mayonnaise, not just mayo, taste pretty good.  
“You know, aren’t you a little short for an Archangel?” Tony says. Does he have a death wish? **_Yes, Yes he does. **Why are you speaking in my head if you are right here? **Why are you? ** _That is a good point. This is the first time I’ve actually noticed it- I’m a couple inches taller than Gabriel. And Tony is several inches shorter than me… For an Archangel he does seem kinda short.  
_** Gabriel pretty much just shrugs off the comment, probably used to it. I continue munching on my Bacon Burger. Pepper is the one that breaks the awkward silence. “Tony, Why don’t you go prepare the guest room for Candace. Candace and I can go and get her a new wardrobe since she doesn’t have anything.”  
“That sounds like a good idea.” I say, throwing the tin-foil wrapping to my burger in the trash. So I guess we are going shopping. I wonder if Gabriel is going to demand to come along. **_Of Course I’m coming. ** _This is going to be fun._**_******_**


	5. Protections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> filler. mostly just filler.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if there's a fuck up in the html its not my fucking problem. i'm too tired to deal with html now.

Have you ever gone shopping with an Archangel/Trickster? No, let me rephrase that, have you ever gone underwear shopping with an Archangel/Trickster? Let me tell you...Not fun. I started out fine… great, even.  
You know how every other corner in the mall has a chocolate shop? Every Time we would pass Pepper and I would get that, ‘I want it, I need it’ look in our eyes. After the fifth one we passed I asked Gabriel for some chocolate. He just snapped his fingers, give me a creepy smirk, and Pepper and I had a handful of chocolate.  
It was when we actually started looking for clothes the Gabriel turned into my worst enemy. Every Time I tried on a Shirt or dress or anything, he would change to color of it to gold and orange and have some phrase on it that other people don’t understand but drives me up a wall.  
I refuse to walk around in a shirt that says, ‘I love Gummy Bears’ or ‘Bacon is life’. Pepper laughed her way through most of the experience. Then we had to go get some undergarments....Gabriel tried some of them on! Then modeled them for us. I am trying so hard to delete that from my memory but every time I get close Gabriel will remind me of it.  
So, needless to say, Gabriel is never allowed to come shopping we me ever again. _**Pshh… Like you can stop me! Besides, I’m a joy to be around!**_ When we finally get back to the house, Tony is waiting on the front step. Gabe disappeared a little after we were done shopping, he does however keep adding random messages into my head.  
“I see the feathered annoyance is gone.” Tony comments once we walk into the house. “Sorta.” I say, lugging our dozens of shopping bags behind me. Gabriel helped pick out some of them, when he isn’t pulling pranks he has pretty good taste in clothes.  
“He still bouncing around in your head?” Tony asks, sympathetically. _**Of course! __**_ **“I don’t think I need to answer that.” I respond, dropping all of the bags onto the couch, Happy and Pepper are carrying even more. “Right, your room is the second to the left upstairs.” Tony says pointing up to the staircase.  
** It takes me about three hours to get all of this new stuff into my room and put away. This is the first time I get a good look at the room that has become mine. The entire wall on one side is windows and computer screens combined into one that are currently predicting the weather.  
The floors are carpeted in here and super soft. The bed is king sized, red comforter and black sheets. The headboard and furniture is all classy and black wood. There are two closets, one of them easy to access, the other a walk in closet. Then there is the attached bathroom. The tub is big enough for me to swim in it… not joking whatsoever.  
You know how everyone has that dream of finding the bathtub they can be completely submerged in? This is it! The Shower is also large and luxurious. This is going to sound completely crazy, but I would be perfectly happy to live in this bathroom. Just sleep in the tub. Most dogs hate baths, but I’m not an ordinary dog. I’m a fucking hellhound. After the fires of hell, a bath is really nice.  
Finished with admiring my room I go downstairs, Where Pepper is watching a video talking bad about Stark Id. “That’s a weapons corporation that doesn’t make weapons!” So that’s what happened at the press conference.  
Pepper turns off the video when Tony contacts her. “Pepper! How big are your hands?” What? I know Tony is crazy but..What? “Get down here I need you. And bring Candace.” He tells her. What the Hell is going on?  
We give each other a quick glance before heading down stairs. I actually don’t even want to ask what is going on. When we get down there I see Tony holding a new Arc reactor. Oh, so he just wants to replace it to one that isn’t made of scraps. Understandable.  
“Show me, how big are your hands?” He asks. I roll my eyes and hold up my hands, Pepper doing the same. “Wow, they are small. Very Petite, indeed. Both of you.” He says motioning for us to come over to where he is laying down connected to half a dozen machines all monitoring his heart rate.  
“Let me guess...You encountered a problem and your hands won’t fit into the socket?” I might not be an engineering genius but I’m a quick study and I helped build the thing. “Yeah, an exposed wire, causing a short circuit.” That’s not good.  
“So, I need one of you to reach down there and gently lift the wire and not let it touch the sides, kind of like operation.” He starts to explain. “~What’s operation?~” Pepper and I chorus. “It’s a game- forget it.” He says, pulling out the previous arc reactor and putting it on the table beside him.  
“Just gently reach in and lift the wire.” Pepper starts reaching towards the cavity before pulling back, “You know, I don’t think I am qualified to do this.” _**If she keeps panicking she might mess up and kill ‘em. Wouldn’t want that to happen. **You’re not helping. __****_  
Tony then turns to me, “You feel like giving it a shot?” I hesitantly reach down to grab the wire, through the pus like substance, “Oh, there is pus.” I comment conversationally. Like I am talking about the weather. I don’t think they are ever going to realize nothing can gross me out anymore.  
**_Don’t mess up. Don’t mess up. Don’t mess up. If you mess up you could end up killing him. Oh, how much pressure must be on your shoulders. **Now you are really not helping. _I find the wire after just a few seconds of searching and start to lift it out._**_  
** “Okay, now don’t let it touch- OW!” Tony starts to explain but then I the wire starts slipping out of my hand so I adjusted making it hit the walls. Shit! His sudden jerking is not helping. “Just lay back and stay still.” I growl, effectively getting him to stop moving.  
**_Mmm...You should boss people around more often. **Just Shut up! **Make me. ** _I push this pointless conversation to the back of my mind and focus on pulling the wire the rest of the way up without touching the walls. “What now?” I ask._******_  
** “Well, you can either pull it out, giving you twenty seconds to put in the new reactor before I flat line or we cut the wire most likely having to do go back and do something else later.” Tony responds. Okay, I go ahead and yank it out.  
_**You don’t think you’re jumping the gun a bit there? **A temporary fix isn’t fixing a problem at all. You’re just running away for the moment. _I quickly grab the new reactor ignoring Pepper’s panicking and all of the beeps going off. It takes me about five seconds to put the new reactor in. For the first couple seconds that the reactor is in Tony has a mini seizure. Most likely because this one is stronger than the last one. Had to get used to the difference in power._****_  
I grab one of the many oil covered towels around here and start wiping my hands of the ‘pus’. “Well, that was fun.” I comment. **_You sound crazy._ **Pot, meet kettle. They both just blink at me. Tony snaps out of it first. “Well, thanks for your help.” He says getting up. I notice the old Reactor on the table. “What are we going to do with this?” I ask.  
**** “Destroy it. Light it up. Let it burn.” Tony says after a single look. I make a face, one that gets Tony’s attention quickly. I hold up a single hand, that is still mostly covered in burns. “I worked too hard to build this contraption to just destroy it now.” I say, glaring into his soul.  
“Then you keep it, I don’t need it.” Tony says with a wave of his hand, getting back to work on whatever he was working on. Most likely a way to neutralize all of the weapons he has built over the years. I roll my eyes and head up stairs, “I’m going to demon proof your house now.” I call behind me.  
Pepper follows right behind me. “Any way I can help?” I think I scared them when I told them about the existence of monsters. I can even see Happy prepared to help. I shrug my shoulders and get out all of the supplies I got while we were at the mall.  
It takes us awhile but eventually the house is completely warded. Symbols painted on the back of every painting, The salt pixie sticks Tony talked about, Demon traps at every entrance. Sure I can’t go past any of the salt Pixie sticks, but why would I try to get out through the windows anyway?  
I considered Angel proofing but, I don’t think that would work on Archangels. Nope! Plus, he would most likely become even more annoying every time I leave the house. Yup! I have absolutely no privacy now do I? Hey! I’m respectful enough to keep out of your memories and leave while you're in the bathroom! That’s more than can be said for my siblings!  
I hate to admit he has a point. Pepper finishes drawing the last symbol. Tony is down stairs, I guess it is safe to ask this now. “Tony told me something that I want your side of the story.” I start. “Expect 80% of it to be lies.” She responds automatically.  
I chuckle, “He told me you could be considered his significant other...But you don’t seem to like him like that.” I tell her, narrowing my eyes at her. It’s too bad I can’t read a soul unless they have made a deal or have been to hell before. She lets out a sigh.  
“At first, Yes. I did have a crush on Tony, but then I worked for him for awhile and I realized that the guy can barely tie his own shoes, doesn’t know how to cook for himself, doesn’t know his own social security number. I feel more like his caregiver than an assistant. I don’t think it’s that much of a stretch to say I feel like his mom.”  
**_So, there is Zero competition for you here. **What the Hell are you talking about? **Your overwhelming crush on Tony Stark. Duh… **I think you were dropped on your head as a fledgeling. **Not to mention all of that sexual attraction you have for me… **No, Scratch that, I am Positive you were dropped on your head as a Fledgeling. **Party pooper. ** __**************_  
**I push Gabriel's annoying voice to the back of my head and realize that it is Almost midnight. “I’m going to go to bed.” I say, twisting all of the knots out of my back from working all day. “Good night.” I head up the stairs and plop down into the bed.  
Five seconds after my head hits the pillow I am out. But not before Gabe can get his two cents in, **Good Night puppy! **Told Good Night by an Archangel, I guess I can cross that one off the bucket list.  
**** [Page Break]  
I wake up the next morning feeling the most rested I have in years. This is actually the first time I have ever slept somewhere that wasn’t the ground or a cheap motel mattress. I get out of bed when I want to and take a nice long shower, getting into some clothes that aren't ripped.  
I happily skip out of the bathroom feeling fresh and clean. I practically hop down the stairs. Looking at the clock I see that I slept in until around 10:30. That feels good. Tony walks down the stairs a little bit after me, dressed nicely in a suit.  
“You going somewhere?” I ask. “Yeah, I was going to talk to Rhodey about Mark-II.” Tony replies. So, we are actually going to perfect that design? “I’m in.” I respond shrugging my shoulders. “Let me just grab some breakfast first.”  
I really should have expected the snap that resonated through the air and the Burger that appeared on the coffee table. Tony blinks at the apparating Burger, before dryly saying, “Apart from his personality I really don’t understand why you hate the guy.”  
See! Tony likes me! “You don’t have him talking in your head whenever he gets bored.” I respond grabbing the Burger and following Tony to the car. Happy isn’t driving us this time. Tony decided to get one of his sports cars.  
I get into the passenger seat and start eating my Burger, ignoring the fact that the instant the car turns on, ‘Highway to Hell’ comes blasting through the speakers. The first bite of the Bacon Cheeseburger sends me into a miniature depression. There is no Bacon.  
_Why isn’t there any bacon?! **Admit that you like my company and I will give you the bacon back. **_He purposefully left out the bacon to try and manipulate me. _You motherfucker. **Admit it. Or you get no bacon in that beautiful cheeseburger. ** _I am not that desperate. If I give in, then he really won’t leave me alone.  
But not having Bacon on this burger is like eating Nachos without any Nacho Cheese. Like getting a pack of gummy bears and it not having any red ones, Like buying a pack of sour skittles but they aren’t sour! It just isn’t Natural! **_That is because you’re dealing with the supernatural, hon.  
**Give me back my bacon! **Admit you like my company. **I thought it was wrong to lie. **Mhm...Your Burger is getting cold. ** _I physically deflate, I throw the biggest metaphorical rock I can find at my pride and begrudgingly admit. _Your sass does make the day more entertaining… **Eh, I’ll buy that. There’s your pig carcass. ** _I look down at my burger and see that there is finally bacon in my cheeseburger. _If you put it that way I think I might go vegetarian. **No you won’t. **No I won’t. __****__****__**********_**_****__****_  
Within a couple more minutes Tony pulls up to a military base, just as I finish devouring my Bacon Cheeseburger. Tony and I get out and walk into the building where Rhodey is giving some sort of speech. “The future of air combat. Is it manned or unmanned? I tell you, in my experience, no unmanned aerial vehicle will ever trump a pilot's instinct, his insight - that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome. Or pilot's judgement.”  
“What about a pilot without the plane?” Tony interrupts. I hate to break it to you Lightbulb, but humans can’t fly on their own. Weren’t designed that way. Let the mortals dream would ya? “Look who fell outta the sky! Mr. Tony Stark.” Rhodey announces.  
“Speaking about manned or unmanned, you gotta get him to tell you about the time he guessed wrong. It's spring break, just remember that. Spring break 1987, that lovely lady, what was his name? Was it Ivan?” Tony tells the troops...I have no idea what he is talking about but I really want to hear this story. “Don’t do that. They’ll believe you.” Rhodey begs Tony before turning to the troops. “Give us a couple minutes.”  
“It’s nice to see you two again. Especially up and about so soon.” Rhodey says. I take a quick glance at the pocket knifes on his belt. Yup, Silver and Iron. If this keeps up everyone Tony knows will end up prepped for demon invasion. It’s probably a good thing that I didn’t tell them Lucifer’s seals are starting to break. Yup, two down already. Mr. Righteous will be out of hell in about a week.  
“Rhodey, I'm working on something big. I came to talk to you. I want you to be part of it.” Tony says getting straight to the point. “You're about to make a whole lotta people around here real happy, because that little stunt at the press conference, that was juicy.” Rhodey says, happily.  
“This is not for the military. I'm not... it's different.” Tony objects. “What, are you humanitarian now or something?” Rhodey jokes. “I need you to listen to me.” “No, what you need is time to get your mind right.” Rhodey walks away, “It was nice seeing you Tony.”  
“How were you expecting that to go?” I ask sassily. “Better...I was expecting it to go better.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OK THAT DOES IT FROM NOW ON I AM NOT BOTHERING WITH HTML.


	7. Inventions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> many things are created. destruction is inevitable when working with prototypes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've given up on any sort of html.

A little while later, Tony and I are back in the garage. “JARVIS, you up?” Tony asks the room.   
“For you, sir? Always.” The AI responds.   
“I’d like you to open a new project file, Index as Mark 2.” Tony tells the AI.   
“Shall I store this on the Stark Industries' central database?”   
“I don't know who to trust right now. Till further notice, why don't we just keep everything on my private server.” Tony responds.   
“But you can trust me? The Hell spawn?” I ask, shocked.   
Tony shrugs his shoulders, “You helped me build the first one, saved my life, trusted me enough to accept when I offered you a safe house and...You’re one of my best friends. I think it’s only fair that I offer you the same.” Tony says, all nonchalant. How can he be so casual?! ‘She’s killed people before? Worked for demons? Whatever, trust her completely!’  
That fact that he offered me a safe house from her of all things, was extraordinary. No one has ever really gone against her before, except the Winchesters of course. To offer a Hellhound, something you should want dead, a place to stay. A roof over their head? Allow them to sit at his table? That never happens.  
Then to call me a friend? Friends are hard to come by. Sure, Gabriel and I are sorta friends but that is more because he get’s bored easily and I am entertaining to him. Demons used to view HellHounds as friends, but that was a long time ago. Before me siblings started breeding with ordinary wolves and their offspring became idiotic mutts.   
It used to be that Hellhounds and demons worked as partners. Drag down the soul, completing the deal, in return you get to eat the body. Now, with all of my elders and siblings dead, the only Hounds left are me and the stupid ones. Demons no longer respect us. Friend’s are impossible to get, yet here Tony goes...Calling me one of his Best Friends.   
I don’t think he realizes how much it means to me to be trusted.   
“Working on a secret project, are we, sir?” How the Hell did Tony create a curious AI? You know what, I’m just not going to overthink that. Tony pulls up the previous blueprints we used for Mark 1, but he then scraps about half of it. Not like it took us two months or anything.  
“I don't want this winding up in the wrong hands. Maybe in mine it could actually do some good.” Tony says. Oh, so we are going with plan I. We had this game back in the cave… Once we get out what are we going to do with our lives. Plan I was use the suit to help people.   
I immediately mention the problems I found with the previous suit. “If we are going to do this, we need to work on the thrusters, more controlled flight, and can we please use something other than Iron?”   
“I was already planning on it… Steel does nothing to you right?” Tony replies.   
“Shoot me with a thousand bullets of it, won’t even break skin.” I respond.   
“Good. We’ll start with the boots then work our way from there.”   
The next week or so is filled with making the boots. While I didn’t do as much as I would have liked too, I helped significantly more than I did in the cave. I’ve said it before, I’m a quick study. Tell me how to do something once and I will (most likely) remember it.   
Gabriel has left me mostly alone for the past week, leaving a burger here and there, still making random comments at odd times. Just not as much as normal. I guess he has left me to work. I will admit, without the trickster buzzing in my head it isn’t as entertaining around here. Although, it is funny watching Tony argue with Dum-E. How did the same person who made JARVIS also make Dum-E and Butterfingers? Forever a mystery.  
Eventually we finish the boots. I currently have the camera and Dum-E has a fire extinguisher in case things go wrong. When do you think he will realize I could just put out the flames? 'Probably a while. He is isn’t the brightest.' 'Well, in the common sense department.' 'Did ya miss me?' 'As much as I hate to admit it...Yes.'   
I can practically feel the grin coming from him. “Okay, let’s do this… We are going to start off nice and easy, raising 10% thrust capacity to achieve lift.” Tony announces, I keep the camera trained on him, Why are we recording this? “And, 3 2 1.”   
The instant he hits the hand controls we made for the booster he is rocketed up and hits his head on the ceiling. I tried, I really did. 'No you didn’t.' But I couldn’t stop myself from laughing and immediately saving the video to the blackmail folder Gabe made for me. 'Told you it would come in handy.'   
I don’t see any reaper, so I assume he is just going to have a bad headache. I help Tony up and he shakes his head lightly. “You okay?” I ask. I’m not a doctor, but I have a general idea about what to look for with concussions. He seems fine. Still has a nasty case of idiocy and an ugly face.   
After making sure Tony hasn’t sustained any brain injury (Other than what he already had), I bring up everything I learned from this test. “So, always start off on a low percentage and we need something to keep you balanced so you don’t do any more somersaults in the air.”   
Tony nods and starts heading towards the holograms to start designing flight stabilizers. After two steps I collapse to the ground, My senses being overwhelmed with different information. Different pictures flash before my eyes, an Angel, a man who looks very familiar and a hundred foot clearing. I don’t know how long I was on the ground, but when the experience stops I see Tony right by my side, trying to figure out what the Hell is going on.   
“What the Hell just happened?!” He demands, sounding like I just gave him a heart attack. I take a couple deep breaths to calm my fast beating heart. I stand up shakily and sit on the nearest table, “You know how I said I can ‘sense’ souls?” I ask, still catching my breath.   
Tony hesitantly nods. “Well, after I drag a soul down I am sorta connected with them. It fades over time, but for the first couple months it remains strong. The last soul I dragged down was just pulled out of Hell by an Angel. Every single Hound out there would be able to feel that, it was just a bit stronger because I was the one to drag him down.” I explain as simply as I can.   
“This ‘Connection’ with the souls, any side effects?” Tony asks, sounding even more worried than before. I shake my head, “Nothing negative. That man being dragged out of Hell probably made it permanent but all it really is, is a giant GPS.” I respond. I kind of wish I knew his name though. If in the back of my head I am going to instinctively know where he is I want to know more than the facts that he sold his soul to save his brother and that he is Michael's vessel. 'Dean. That douchebag’s name is Dean Winchester.'   
Okay, that works. I stand up from where I was sitting, “Ready to build some flight stabilizers?” I ask chipperly, heading over to where Tony started on the designs. “Oh. No you don’t!” Tony says, pulling me towards the couch he has down here. “You just passed out, you are going to rest!”   
I roll my eyes at his attempts at telling me what to do, “And you just got rocket launched into the ceiling. If you’re on your feet then so am I.” I argue. Tony seems to have a mental battle with himself, knowing that I have a point. “Both of us take a ten minute break, then.” He proposes. I nod, Neither one of us is going to let the other get away with anything less.   
'Aww! This is what the readers want to see! An overprotective couple. Along with my hilarious jokes.'  
\-----------------   
It takes us another day or so to build the base prototype for the flight stabilizers/Gloves. Tony has decided to wear the glove while we test it. That sounds like an Awesome idea, no chance of injury there at all! 'Your obvious sarcasm is obvious.'   
Pepper comes down the stairs as we are making the final adjustments. “I’ve been buzzing you two… Obadiah is upstairs.” She tells us. “Great, we’ll be right up.” Tony replies barely paying attention to her. “Can we not tell Obadiah what I am? That secret has already been shared by quite a few people.” I ask, double checking all of the adjustments I made.   
“Sure, I don’t think the old man's heart could take the news anyway.” Tony agrees. Pepper takes a quick glance at the flight stabilizer, “I thought you said you were done making weapons.” She comment, making it sound like a question.   
“It isn't. This is a flight stabilizer. It's completely harmless.” Tony responds, preparing to turn the thing on. The device turns on and immediately propels Tony backward and onto the ground from the sheer force of the propulsion. “I didn’t expect that.”   
“Note to self, when dealing with this technology, always start on the lowest setting.” I comment, putting the device back onto the stand so we can go over what went wrong later. 'On a side note, if Tony wants to get back into the weapons business, that is a pretty decent ray of death you got there.'  
Tony gets up off the ground, “Shall we?” He says, gesturing to the stairs. I don’t know how he can just back so fast from a miniature explosion in his lab. I feel like he is accustomed to the chaos at this point, considering he creates half of it. Gabriel has been creating the other half.  
'And where do you fall into this?' 'I’m the one cleaning up your messes!' I can’t see him but I know that if he was here he would be raising an eyebrow, silently arguing. 'It’s true!' The eyebrow raises even further. 'Fine! I accept a third of the blame, but it is mostly you and Tony! Now get out of my head.' 'Ooh! I like it when you get bossy! I’m starting really want you to make me.'   
I let out a slightly frustrated huff and follow tony up the stairs to where this Obadiah person is waiting. My first reaction when I see him is, don’t like him, don’t trust him. Dragging a soul down to Hell let’s me know everything about someone, their past, their morals, what makes them special in the grand plan. (I don’t get their name for some reason.)   
While I can’t learn everything about a person by just being near them, I can always get a basic understanding of their personality by looking at their soul. Obadiah is manipulative, a liar and only works for himself. That’s what I get from a quick glance.   
I throw on a very fake smile and greet the man, “You must be Obadiah. Nice to finally put a face to the name.” He shakes my hand and I shove down the urge to cleanse it in hand sanitizer. “Candace, I presume?” I nod my head once, not exactly pleased he already knows my name, “Nice to meet you, miss.”   
This is when the smell of pizza reaches my nose, I was so busy not trusting him I didn’t even smell food. Tony grabs the box, handing me a slice before digging in himself. “That bad huh?” He asks, around his slice of pizza. For a man raised in a wealthy environment his manners are deplorable. I take a single bite….This is the best pizza I have ever tasted.   
“Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad.” Obadiah says. When the pizza taste as good as Gabriel's Bacon Cheeseburgers and are from the other side of the continent, you're trying to apologise for something.   
“It would've gone better if you were there.” Obadiah continues. “You told me to lay low and that's what I've been doing. I lay low and you take care of all the…” Tony starts before the older man cuts him off, “In public, the press… This was a Board of Directors meeting.”  
Oh, somehow I don’t think a Board of Directors meeting without the company's owner is a good thing. “The Board is claiming a Post Traumatic Stress. They are filing an injunction. They wanna lock you out.” I was right, it is a terrible thing. You know, sometimes I actually tire of being correct all of the time.  
“Why, cause the stocks dip 40 points? We knew this was gonna happen.” Tony argues, “56 and a half.” Pepper corrects matter-of-factly. “It doesn't matter. We own a controlling interest in the company.” Somehow this smells fishy. I worked for demons, I know I lie when I hear one. Obadiah isn’t telling us everything. Or you are just letting your distrust for the man misguide your judgement. But hey! What do I know? I’m not the one who can smell lies.   
“Tony, the Board has rights too. They are making the case that you and your new direction isn't in a company's best interest.” Obadiah tries to appease. He is being locked out of the company his father built, a few words isn’t going to calm him down.   
“I'm being responsible. That's a new direction. For me... for the company.” Tony argues, After a little bit more back and forth Tony gets up with the pizza box and starts heading towards the stairs. “You and I going to finish our project? I figured out what went wrong.” He asks, Yeah, what went wrong is you always test things out at too high a setting.   
Tony and I were about to disappear downstairs when Obadiah stops us. “I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them.” He looks meaningfully at the arc reactor glowing through Tony’s T-shirt. It’s amazing how often I forget that’s there.   
“Let me have the engineers analyze that, you know, draw some specs.” There is that ulterior motive I was looking for. Tony immediately objects, “No. Absolutely not. This one stays with me.” Obadiah then grabs the box of heavenly pizza from Tony’s hands, “Then this stays with me.” No! Obadiah then opens the box, “Go on. You can have a piece- take two.”   
I, the rebel that I am, quickly grab three before scurrying downstairs. A couple seconds later Tony waltzed down the stairs as well. “It’s times like these I remember you are a hound. You practically go crazy over food.” Tony says, his own slice of pizza in his hand.   
“When it tastes better than Gabe’s Burgers, Yes, I will go crazy for it.” I reply about to take another bite. Before I can however, I snap fills the room and all of the pizza slices disappear, Tony’s too. On the table, right beside the flight stabilizers we were working on earlier, is another box of pizza.   
The label on the box is Gabriel with a chef hat on, winking. Where the brand name would go is the line ‘Gabriel’s Pizza’. Tony just rolls his eyes and takes a piece, well accustomed to the odd whims of the Archangel at this point. “I think you insulted your pet angel.” He comments, handing me a note that was apparently on the pizza.  
'Dearest Hound,   
Nothing taste better than my food. Nothing! Accept this pizza as my way of proving that. The next time you find a dish that comes close, inform me so I may show them who the best chef is.   
Affections,'  
Loki the Archangel  
I roll my eyes at the ridiculous note and take my own piece. After taking a single bite it is official, Chef Gabriel/Loki still reigns supreme.


	8. Tests

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> testing prototypes leads to destruction. what else is new.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> no more html. ever.   
> well, for this story, anyway.   
> i may go back and edit the other chapters so they aren't so messed up.

The next few days are a sequence of test runs, in which Tony will always come out of with another bruise, Dum-E dousing Tony with the fire extinguisher, Tony not realizing he could put me on fire duty and Dum-E on the camera, or just have JARVIS record. And every single meal Gabriel sends a different type of food.   
For breakfast the past few days I have had the best Pancakes I have ever tasted, the best Omelette ever and a spectacular bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit. For lunch it’s been mostly different types of subs and sandwiches. Dinner has been Hibachi, Teriyaki and steak. I think he is trying to prove that no matter what food it is, his will always taste the best.  
So far, so good. Tony hasn’t been complaining, and Pepper doesn’t have to run to the store to get Tony food. None of us are willing to complain about the absolutely delicious free meals. 'Because I’m just that awesome!'   
Tony is currently preparing for the next test. “Day 11, Test 37, Configuration 2.0.” Have we really been working on this for 11 days? 'Yup! It’s been 4 since the Righteous Douchebag got out of Hell.' 'Has he figured out it was an Angel that pulled him out yet?' 'Nope, Castiel did burn out some psychic's eyes when he tried to figure it out.'  
Wait….Castiel pulled Dean out of Hell? I don’t know the guy personally but he killed me before trying to protect his charge. You tend to remember the name of the person who put an Angel blade through your gut and sent you to Purgatory. Lilith didn’t let me out for one earth year or so, I think she was trying to teach me not to get killed next time, all it taught me is that she is a bitch. It was nice seeing my parents again though.   
“For lack of a better option, Dum-E is still on fire safety.” Tony continues. No, you’re just too stupid to realize I would be perfect on fire safety. “If you douse me again, and I'm not on fire, I'm donating you to a city college.” 'But he is so entertaining!' Watching Tony and Dum-E argue is absolutely adorable.  
“Alright, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. And 3, 2, 1.” Tony says, activating the thrusters. He lifts a couple feet up in the air, hovers for a second, then touches back down. Tony glances at Dum-E how is holding the extinguisher up to his face.   
“Please don't follow me around with it either cause I feel like I'm going to catch on fire spontaneously. Just stand down.” The little whining noises Dum-E makes is adorable.   
“Again, let's bring it up to 2.5%.” Tony says activating the thrusters.   
I must say, he has zero control. He tries to go left and he goes right, at least he doesn’t have to worry about controlling height yet. It’s funny to watch him freak out as he flies over his cars. “Okay, this is where I don't want to be. Not the car, not the car.”  
He flies around in a circle before finally getting back to the center of the room and landing. “Yeah, I can fly.” He proclaims victoriously. I raise an eyebrow, “No, you can barely hover and not destroy everything,” I correct.   
“Same difference.”   
We start building the rest of the suit when I notice a problem, the suit can travel faster than the speed of sound, How am I supposed to keep up? “Hey, Tony?” I call out, working on the rest of the arms. “Yeah, what?”   
“Can we make me some boots for my true form? I’m not going to be able to keep up with you other wise.” I would like to say I’ve learned a lot. I understand how more than half of this stuff works now, but the techno babble that just came out of Tony’s mouth completely baffled me.   
Seeing my confused face, Tony repeats himself, this time in a lesser vocabulary. “Yes, we can, and with enough time we could also make it automatically adjust if you want to go human. The only other thing is that we should probably build a headset that won't fall off of your head at high speed. Wearing an entire suit would lessen your maneuverability.”   
“I’m already bullet proof, so I don’t need the full suit anyway.” I point out. “Unless they have Iron bullets.” Tony reminds, I scoff at the thought. “The only people who purposefully make iron bullets are Hunters and, apparently, you whenever you get bored.”  
Tony starts drawing the blueprints for my headset and boots, “Hunters?” He asks, very confused. “Yeah, there are such things as monster hunters. They live mostly off of credit card fraud, traveling from city to city killing anything supernatural.” I explain, looking over the designs he brought up quite quickly.   
“So if hunters ever come around, we don’t tell them you’re a Hell Hound.” Tony sums up. “Probably a good idea. Some of them are actually good enough to kill me.” I agree, I’m mostly talking about Bobby Singer and Rufus Turner. The Winchesters aren’t ones to underestimate either. Says the guy who lost to them twice. Exactly.   
“Did you already have these plans drawn out? You brought them up really fast.” I comment. Tony goes silent for a moment, “Tony?”   
“I had ideas… So I wrote them down. I just didn’t know if you were staying or if you would want to help me with this crazy mission of mine so I didn’t mention it.” Tony concedes.   
“Tony...Your mission involves blowing stuff up for a good reason. Why wouldn’t I stick around?” I ask. Realization crawls across his face. The idiot, if he didn’t know what I was going to do why didn’t he just ask?  
“Any questions rolling around in that head of yours you’ve been to afraid to ask?”   
“Promise not to bite my head off?” I give him the most ‘are you an idiot?’ look I can.   
“Right. Where are your parents and siblings?” He asks, hesitantly.   
“Mom and Dad are in Purgatory, my siblings are absolutely everywhere.” I answer simply, getting to work on these boots.   
“Have you tried to get them out?”  
“They’re happy where they are. Every Hound that ever goes to Purgatory joins their enormous pack and the endless hunt.” I respond. I can understand why my Parents and Nieces and Nephews like the afterlife. As long as they avoid the Leviathans, they can hunt anything as the top predator.   
“How many siblings do you have?” Tony asks, getting to work as well.   
“Only four actually, my parents only had one litter. Quintuplets. I’m sure you will recognise some of their names. My sister Lupa is actually in California. She fell in love with humanity and likes to raise orphans or train future heroes. She’s the wise one with a tendency for tough love.” I start, smiling softly as I remember my siblings.  
“Then there is Geri and Freki. They are a bunch of goofballs. They like hanging around Odin as his Guard dogs. My last sibling is Luca, he doesn’t like popularity so he has kept to himself over the years. Just hiding out alone, wherever he is.” I finish explaining.   
“None of them are Hellhounds in the legends…” Tony trails off quite confused.   
I chuckle bitterly. “Biologically, all of them are Hellhounds, they just decided to grow actual fur and get a different occupation. Luca and I were the only ones with control over the fires of hell. When they found out we had this power demons started swarming and demanding that we work for them. Fortunately, Luca was able to disappear. She was able to put me on a leash though.”   
Tony nods his head and decides to ask another question, “If you’re centuries old… Got any rugrats stalking around downstairs?” That was an unexpected question, I nearly bust out laughing at the randomness of it.   
“Humans actually got this legend right- if I had kids I would have a mate, and if I had a mate neither of us would willingly leave the others side.” I explain through my chuckles.   
“Then how did so many Hellhounds come around?” Tony questions, confused.   
“That’s all Uncle Cerberus, Geri and Freki. They bonded with an ordinary wolf or hunting dog, the wolf or dog died and they did it all over again.” I respond.   
“Have any of your family members ever bonded with a human?” Tony asks, trying really hard to look casual and nonchalant. What’s with him?   
“Where do you think Werewolves came from?” I say. Eve and Freki have been having this argument for centuries. Freki eventually allowed Eve to become the godmother to the race.  
'Yawn! Can we please skip the history lesson?' 'I’m just answering any question that Tony has.'   
“Why haven’t you found a mate in several thousand years?”   
'You sure you’re going to answer every question he has?' I ignore Gabriel and answer Tony’s question, “Just hadn’t found the right partner.”   
She didn't make it any easier...  
I don’t look to see Tony’s reaction, staying fully focused on building these boots. It’s a couple minutes before Tony speaks again. “One more question and that’s it….” Tony says quite hesitantly. I quite doubt it, there is never just one anything with him.   
“Shoot.”   
“You’re trying to hide from Lilith….Why did you give your name and encourage people to dig into your past at the press conference?” Tony asks very gently. I guess anything involving her is a touchy subject.  
“She doesn’t know what I look like in human form and she never bothered to learn my name. Plus, demons rarely watch Television.” I respond. He seems genuinely surprised that I answered his question. “Now are we going to get this done, or not?” I ask pointing to the Boots and headset that look nothing like anything at the moment. “Right.”   
It takes another two days to finish my boots and headset. With that time I’ve felt a couple more seals break, I’ve also convinced Pepper, Happy, Rhodes and Tony to wear anti-possession charms until I can get them inked up. Still haven’t convinced them to get in the chair yet.   
Now that the boots are done and sized to fit both my human and canine persona, I have to figure out how to use them. “You ready to fly?” Tony asks with a smirk. “Considering the fact you flew into a wall, no, not really… Let’s do this.” We are going to start with me learning how to fly in my human form, then go to my true form.   
I step into the boots which automatically adjust to fit whatever form I am in. Tony slides the gloves over my hands then steps back with a nerve wracking grin on his face. He proceeds to turn on the camera, “The first flying dog… take one.” He announces still smirking. “Starting with 1% capacity… 3, 2, 1.”   
Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? Or the first time you went ice skating? Roller Skating? Do you remember how hard it was to keep yourself upright? Take that feeling, triple it, and you're still not anywhere close. It’s like trying to walk on a very slippery floor with shoes that have zero traction.   
After a couple seconds of no control I get used to it and I lower back onto the ground. “That’s harder than it looks.” I comment, taking a moment to find my center of gravity. “Ready for 2.5?” Tony asks, still laughing from my oh, so eloquent aerial aerobics. “Not at all. Let’s go.”   
This time I don’t have to spend anytime trying to find my balance, immediately able to keep myself upright. With the stronger power I start to hover around the room, I am happy to say that I was able to control my direction much easier than Tony did. Probably because I watched him learn to control it before, now I just have to apply what I saw him do.   
I do that little spin thing I saw Tony do before touching back down, “Yeah, I can fly.” I say just for the fun of it. Tony, of course, has to ruin it for me. “No, you can hover in your human form, Can you do the same as a Hound?” He asks with a smirk. “Same difference.” I grumble. 'Deja vu, anyone?' 'Get out of my head.' 'Umm… No!'  
I start to shift into my true form, My bones cracking and popping into different spots, my skin, muscles and organs all burning off, turning into flying embers. My eyes slitting and glowing red. My teeth turning into black daggers poking out of my ivory skull. At my feet I see that the boots changes shape as I did, adjusting to the different size. Cool.  
“Again, you look insanely awesome like this.” Tony says, openly admiring my true form. “Will the boots be affected by my fire?” I ask, my voice having an underlaid growl to it. Tony shakes his head, “The metal would have to be heated to insanely hot temperatures to melt, I can see no reason you would need to burn that hot.”   
I nod my head and give Tony a grin. Can skeletons grin? “Ready to see a flying dog?” I ask. Tony’s smirk returns at full force, “Starting at 1% capacity.” “3, 2, 1..” It’s actually a lot easier to balance like this, or I’m already used to it. I stand tall before touching down, front paws landing first.  
“2.5%...3, 2, 1.” Tony announces once I give him a motion to go on. The thrusters turn back on and I’m back in the air. Unfortunately, There aren’t any flying dogs whose movements I can mimic- looks like I have to figure this out on my own.   
Moving a single paw can change my direction, and if I bend my tail in this direction I go this way. It’s quite the process to figuring it out. After flying over and throwing papers everywhere, leaving scorch marks on one of the cars and knocking over Dum-E (Don’t know how I managed to do that) I get the hang of it and land back in the center of the room. In human form you hover in place then land, like this I sorta slide onto the ground. If that makes any sense.   
Deciding to be that person, I go back into the air just to have a little fun. Of course that is when a scream resonates from the general direction of the stairs. “There is a flying Skeleton Dog in the lab!” Comes the voice of our resident red head. She has never seen my true form, has she?  
I gently land back on the ground and start slowly walking over to her. She quickly pulls out the Silver pocket knife I had her start carrying around. “Pepper! It’s me..Candace.” I bark. She blinks once, twice, then drops the knife and grabs her chest, like I just gave her a heart attack.   
“This is what you really look like?!” She asks, slowing her beating heart. I sigh, “Yes, Pepper, While I am happy you didn’t try to filet me...You need to learn which metals work against which creatures and just because I give you a name doesn’t mean I am who I say I am.” I say, sounding very exasperated. If she was in a real hunt, she would have died. Quickly.   
“Okay..Can you please turn into something… Less creepy? Your eyes make you look like you are trying to judge whether or not to kill me on the spot.” Pepper asks, gesturing to my current form. I roll my eyes and will skin and fur to cover my bones. I probably look even more gross in between forms, but Pepper will be happier with the end result.  
The fire inside my rib cage turns to organs and blood. Powerful muscles cover each and every one of my bones. Thick Coal black fur sprouts from my skin and my claws are blood red, similar to my eyes. “Is this better? I can’t change the eye color, sorry.” I say, shaking head quickly to get the fur to lie more naturally.   
“You get more and more awesome everyday.” Tony says patting my back, I’m tall enough that my shoulder is above his hip. Just to mess with him, I force myself to grow a little bit taller. “....Did you just grow?” He asks, rubbing his eyes to make sure they aren’t playing tricks on him.   
I curl my lip up in a small little grin, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I say, changing size again to make me much smaller. I probably look like a little wolf cub right now. “Can all Hellhounds do that?” He asks, bending down to my level. I shake my head happily. “Nope, this is all me!” “Awesome.” He says awesome a lot doesn’t he? Wait until you meet Dean.  
After calming down Pepper she tells us the reason she came down here in the first place, “You two haven't eaten in two days. The Number of Cheeseburgers that I’ve had to put in the fridge is getting ridiculous.” Oops, Tony and I turn to each other, giving a sheepish shrug.   
That is when my stomach decides to voice its complaints. “Yeah, food. That’s probably a good idea.” I admit, heading towards the stairs. It’s so much harder to get up and down the stairs when the stairs are almost taller than me. After nearly falling off of the second step I grumble and shift into a human form once again. “The process of going from one form to another is incredibly gross.” Pepper comments from behind me.  
We walk into the dining room and sure enough on the table is our next meal waiting for us. A bag of Chinese food, the label is Gabe standing under one of those shrine things with the title: Trickster Express. I roll my eyes at the label and start pulling out the food.  
“I’m not complaining or anything… Why does Gabriel keep bringing you food? I understand hanging around because he is bored, but why bring food?” Tony asks, digging into his Vegetable Chow Mein.   
'I dunno, maybe I wanna keep your asses alive? You sure as hell aren’t capable at feeding yourselves, it would seem.'  
I repeat what Gabriel said to Pepper and Tony, digging into my sesame seed chicken. Pepper, of course, is just eating the egg rolls. What is it with humans and worrying about their weight? I find it stupid, looking fabulous isn’t going to save your life when you're running after/away from a wendigo, Leviathan or Vamp.  
“Ready to go on our first official flight after this?” Tony asks, I try to ignore the sauce all over his cheek as I respond, “Of course, But do you think JARVIS will even let us take them for a spin?” I respond, because JARVIS is a mother hen...I don’t even know how that is possible considering the fact he is an AI!  
“I was the one to program him! He is going to do whatever I tell him to do.” Tony responds matter of factly. “Then yes, I am ready to be the world's first flying dog.”


End file.
